Upstate Of Mind
by xxnewslangxx
Summary: Zuko is a rich kid living in NYC, but when he gets sent upstate to live with his Uncle is whole world gets turned upside down. But he soon finds out its not all bad when you can still play the sport you love, and gain a new love with a new friend. Zutara
1. Chapter 1

Ok, so this story is your cliché Zuko moves to a new town AU, hope you like it. Read and Review please. Thanks,

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Enjoy

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Chapter 1

Zuko didn't remember the train ride upstate all that much. He remembered his Father telling the driver to stop and get his bag from the trunk at Grand Central. He remembered the indifferent look his Father gave him when he was handed his ticket. He remembered the blank face his sister Azula had on when he went to hug her goodbye. He remembered watching them drive away leaving him by himself to wander the terminal searching for his train. Now here he was, in a small town in upstate New York, the train station, if you could call it that, it was just a platform in the middle of nowhere. He stepped off the train, and looked around, the only other soul around was the man in the ticket booth, and he looked surprised to see somebody actually get off the train. He checked his watch, the train had arrived right on time. Then coming, no barreling, down the road was his uncles beat up pick-up truck.

Zuko hadn't seen his uncle in quite some time, he was considered the black sheep of the family. Instead of taking over the family business in Manhattan he had moved to this small town in upstate, South Point. I guess he was the new black sheep, being shipped off to where somebody in the Kuzon family went when they were too embarrassing to have around. He would spend the next two years of his life in this frozen wasteland. The truck finally pulled up to the edge of the platform.

"Hello Nephew!" came his bellowing voice from the truck, "throw your bag in the back and let's get going its freezing." Zuko did as he was told and soon they were driving back the way his uncle came from. His uncle was a strange character in Zuko's eyes. He was a short round looking man, with bushy sideburns and a great big smile. How he could be happy after the things he had happen to him was quite the puzzle to Zuko. His Uncle Iroh had to bury his wife and son in the same year, and then he gave up the right to run the multi-million dollar shipping business that their family owned and moved to this tiny town and opened up a tea shop. Yet here he was going on about something in extremely happy mood, and was it only Zuko that found it awkward to be sitting in a truck with a relative that he barely knew?

"…so are you excited about starting school?" was all that Zuko was able to catch when he came out of his own thoughts.

"Uh, well I don't know. How many people go to this school?"

"About two-hundred"

"200?! There was almost one thousand at my old school!"

"Well I'm sorry to say this is a much smaller town than New York." His uncle said with a mirthful chuckle.

"You're telling me…" Zuko trailed off as they came upon the town, it was miniscule. You could practically see the whole town from this road, no skyscrapers, no building really larger than two stories. The whole town was just a lot of snow, trees and houses. Except one building, it was enormous compared to everything around it. "What is that?" Zuko asked pointing at the building that dwarfed the rest of South Point.

"Oh, that's the ice-rink, this town lives and dies on its hockey." Hockey, Zuko smiled for the first time in a while.

* * *

Zuko and his uncle pulled up to a small home. It wasn't unpleasant, just a small cottage looking home with a front porch, and a chimney, and a yard. Zuko had never had a yard before. It was covered with snow at the moment but Zuko imagined it with a green lush carpet of grass, and he could see him running around with friends. He quickly roused himself from his daydream, his friends were all back in New York, and they would never want to play in a yard, well maybe Ty Lee. They would be hopping trains up and down the island, going to concerts, eating at the best restaurants, slipping into clubs with fake ID's and a twenty for the bouncer. It was nice to be young and rich in the greatest city in the world, and here he was in a frozen town where he knew nobody and had absolutely nothing to do.

"I'll show you to your room." Iroh said as he opened the front door with a jingle of his keys. They walked up the stairs, the walls were covered in pictures of his late aunt and cousin, then, Zuko froze. He was starring into the eyes of his Mother, she was young, beautiful, and alive. On her arm was a man he didn't recognize at first, but it was his father. He was smiling, laughing even, and they were at some sort of fair.

Iroh turned to see Zuko was not behind him, then went back down the hall and saw Zuko sitting on the stairs, he had taken a picture off the wall and was starring at it intently. Even with Zuko's back to him blocking his view of the picture Iroh knew exactly which one it was.

"They were so much in love." His Uncles voice had startled Zuko. He turned his head and looked up the stairs to see his Iroh looking down at him fondly.

"I can't believe this is my father." Zuko stated simply.

"Yes, he was quite happy and full of life when he was with Ursa." Zuko had not heard somebody say her name out loud in so long he felt that he had nearly forgotten it. "He was an angry sullen boy before he met her in college, and when he lost her, well he seemed to go back behind his shield." Zuko could hardly imaging his father ever being happy, but then again, before his mother died, he could remember seeing this happy smiling face of a man in love, had it just been so long that he had forgotten his father looking this way? Or had Zuko just found it easier to see his father as an angry indifferent man that he had no attachment to? "Well, let's go get you settled into your room, I have to go check on the shop."

The room was small but adequate. A bed, a desk, an end table, and absolutely nothing on the walls, it was a guest bedroom never used. Nobody ever went to see his uncle, and a pang of guilt hit Zuko in his gut. This man that was so eager to take him in when nobody else wanted him, was as alone as Zuko was right now. Zuko set his bag on the bed and followed his uncle back down the stairs, stealing a glance at the picture of his parents, and out the door.

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They pulled up to what seemed to be the main street of South Point. Lined with small shops and boutiques it had an old town sort of charm, it certainly wasn't Times Square. His uncle parked and they got out and began to walk along the street.

"This is Main Street." How original thought Zuko as he rolled his eyes. "Most anything you need is on this street, the market is at the other end," Iroh said pointing to the largest building on the street at the far end. "and all the shops up and down the street are specialty shops, and restaurants, and my tea shop" Iroh said as he opened the door to the store front they had stopped in front of.

Zuko instantly smelled jasmine as he stepped in. It was a nice little store with a few tables here and there, a fireplace, and a counter with a register. There were a bunch of teens in the shop, which surprised Zuko, who knew that a tea shop would be a hang out for kids, well in this town maybe it was the best they had.

"Hey mister Kuzon!" greeted the girl behind the counter, she was about Zuko's age, maybe a little younger, lightly tanned skin and her brown hair pulled into a messy pony-tail.

"Why hello Jin," Greeted Iroh, "How is business today?"

"Same as always, the usuals are over in the corner and some window shoppers here and there to get in from the cold." She said off handedly, Zuko guessed she said the same thing to Iroh everyday. "And who is this?" she asked as she gave Zuko a big smile, she reminded him of Ty Lee.

"This is my Nephew Zuko, he will be staying with me from now on, and he will be helping you here." Wait what? This was the first Zuko had heard of him having a job while he lived here. He had never had a job in his life, he just had an account his father had put money into for him. Seeing Zuko's confused look Iroh explained. "If you are going to live with me you will have to pull your weight, you will work here after school with Jin."

Zuko was a bit put off by the whole situation, but how hard could it be? And he would get to work with a cute girl, which was always a plus. So Zuko went about being trained by his Uncle and Jin in how the Tea Shop ran, and he was horrible at it. They eventually sat him in front of the register, Zuko was always good with numbers, and had a good memory so he was the ideal cashier. He on the other hand could not make tea or coffee to save his life. After numerous fails and being snickered at by the teens in the corner of the store he had let his temper flare and quit, then was talked back in by Jin and promptly placed in front of the register. He chit chatted with Jin while his uncle took care of something in the back office. She went to South Point High School, where he would start going to when the semester began on Monday. It would be nice to know a face in the crowd, Zuko mused. Then a commotion in the corner caught his eye. There were four, no five of them, the "usuals" referred to earlier by Jin. The ones having the argument were a boy, most likely Zuko's age that had blue eyes and tan skin with a short brown pony-tail. He was yelling with a girl that had to be his sister, same skin, same eyes, and same hair just longer. Seeing sibling fight was an instant reminder of Azula, well they really didn't fight, she got him angry and he did something stupid and she won. To the girls left was a younger boy with a buzz haircut and grey eyes, he looked to be trying to mediate with little success. To his left was a small girl with jet black hair laughing hysterically at the whole situation, to her left was a girl with short auburn hair trying to hold back the boy, probably his girlfriend.

"Will you shut up Sokka!" Zuko whipped his head back around to see that it was Jin that had yelled at him. Then he looked back to see Sokka had stopped yelling and the others were quiet and the small girl laughed even harder.

"What happened to the customer is always right?" shot back the boy, Sokka was what Jin had called him.

"You have to buy something to be a customer." Jin replied with a smirk. "And since Katara did buy something, she is a customer, so whatever you two were arguing about, she was right." The whole table except for Sokka burst into laughter.

"Thanks Jin!" said the girl identified as Katara. She noticed Zuko starring, he averted his gaze as quickly as possible with a slight blush rising to his face. How long was he starring at her, he hadn't even noticed, but she sure as hell did. When he dared look back in her direction he was startled to see she was at the counter. "Hi, I'm Katara, what's your name."

"This is Zuko," Jin replied. "He is Mr. Kuzon's Nephew."

"Hi Zuko, what brings you to South Point?"

"I'm going to be staying with my Uncle."

"Oh, that's cool, are you going to go to South Point High?"

"Yeah, I'll be a junior."

"Cool, my Idiot Brother is a junior too, I'm a sophomore." An "I Heard That" could be heard coming from the table. "Come over and I'll introduce you to everyone." Zuko came around from behind the counter at her beckon, a little nervous, why was he nervous? He was just meeting some kids from the small town he was being banished to that were in the tea shop he was being forced to work in, man how was he stuck in this situation? His palms were sweaty and he was getting irritated by everything he had taken in stride all day. He was suddenly in front of the group with a scowl on his face. "This is-"

"We heard," interrupted the small girl, "you were right over there Sugar Queen."

"Well, fine Toph, introduce yourselves then." Katara said with a huff, and instantly the anger and frustration boiling up in Zuko was gone, something about this group calmed him, maybe it was the way they playfully teased, or the way they casually sat with each other, they must have all been friends for years. Zuko missed his friends back home and longed to be friends with this group all in one moment.

"I'm Toph" Said the short girl with the black hair that slightly covered her eyes.

"Sokka" Said Katara's brother, "and this is my girlfriend Suki." He said gesturing to the girl with the short auburn hair.

"I can speak for myself Sokka," Suki said as slapped him in the back of the head, Sokka gave a yelp and winced.

"I'm Aang," said the small boy. "Nice to meet you Zuko."

"Nice to meet you all." Zuko replied and he turned around to go back to work.

"Hey wait a second," Zuko heard Sokka call to him, he turned to the table of friends again. "Zuko Kuzon?" Sokka questioned him.

"Yeah?" Zuko replied, with a quizzical look on his face. Sokka had his hand on his chin and was looking upwards, a very stern look on his face. He snapped his fingers and smiled looking up at Zuko.

"You were on the State Champs last year!" Sokka exclaimed shocking everyone at the table. "You played on the state champs last year, some fancy private school in New York City!" Zuko was at first bewildered, then he realized what Sokka was talking about, Zuko had a few hobbies, but one thing he was very good at, Hockey. Sokka was correct, he had played for St. Mary's back home last year and they won State. He was more than shocked that some kid he just met in this po-dunk town knew that.

"Yeah, I guess." Zuko replied a little unsure of what to say.

"Sweet!" Yelled Aang, Zuko turned his attention to the younger boy. "We start our season with the semester, join the team!"

"Join the what?" Zuko replied, he was quite bewildered, first this random stranger knew who he was, and another was recruiting him for…a hockey team, is that what this Aang kid was trying to get him to join?

"The Team!" it was Sokka this time. Zuko looked for help to the girls at the table, Toph was amused by the way he was reacting to the boy's ambush. Suki was embarrassed and mouthed sorry to him.

"Sokka! Aang! Stop yelling at him!" it was Katara that came to his rescue, he gave her an awkward smile meant to be a thank you, her smile back to him he took to mean your welcome. Suki elbowed Sokka in the ribs, and he calmed himself down.

"Sorry about that, we kind of get over excited when it comes to hockey." Sokka sheepishly explained.

"Yeah, sorry about that." Aang echoed.

"That's alright." Zuko said, "I just don't know about joining any teams right now though."

"Aw, common, I'm the captain, it'll be fine." Sokka boasted.

"No you're not." His sister chided him.

"Well I will be!" Sokka was now standing in some sort of hero pose. "I will lead us to a championship!"

"The only reason you win anything is because Aang is finally in High School." Toph laughed, and Aang got a sheepish grin all of a sudden. Seeing Zuko's puzzlement return Katara began to explain.

"Sokka and Aang play on the team, Sokka is a center and will most likely, as much as it pains me to say it will be captain this year, there is only one senior on the team this year, Haru, but he is the goalie and doesn't really see himself as a leader. And for some reason, the rest of the guys look to Sokka."

"Ouch little sis"

"Aang, well, the hopes of this town are kind of riding on Aang," She smiled at Aang, and for some reason Zuko was jealous, he wanted her to only smile at like she had been doing. Then Zuko had to ask himself: what the hell did I just think?! Luckily Toph brought him out of his own head.

"Yeah, Aang is the second coming of Wayne Gretzky around here!" she exclaimed slapping the aforementioned boy on the back.

"Well, not all that-"

"Yeah right!" It was Suki's turn to interrupt. "Everyone in town wanted you to just skip middle school and go straight to high school so you could play on the team faster!" The whole table laughed again.

"Well, yeah. I am pretty good." Aang allowed himself a little boast, Zuko thought he was a curious kid.

"You're pretty strange for a goal scorer." Zuko couldn't believe he just said that out loud. The whole table stopped laughing and stared at him. He scrambled to explain himself. "What I mean is, well, you see" This wasn't going well, he was stumbling over his words, and Katara was giving him the meanest glare he ever saw. "Well, every major scorer I have ever played with has been, well, extremely confident, almost conceded, they kind of have to be, it's their job on the team."

"Really?" Sokka inquired

"Well last year, our top scorer was-

"James Tannan" Sokka interrupted

"Yeah, he was always talking about his and our teams abilities, but it was his job to be the face of the team." Zuko continued.

"Sounds like an arrogant jerk." Katara interjected.

"Well, yeah he was," Zuko agreed smiling. "We couldn't stand him, but he carried us to a championship and was drafted in the first round." He finished in a matter-of-factly fashion. Katara frowned and Zuko felt his gut drop.

"Well, I like scoring goals, and I am good at it, but I don't like to brag about what does that make me?" Aang asked, all ten eyes were on Zuko, they waited for his answer, an answer that would shape how they saw this stranger. This was his first impression, and you only got one. The tension was palpable. Zuko shoved his hands in his pockets and tilted his head to the side.

"I don't know, I've never seen you play." The five friends all almost fell out of their chairs.

"Well let's go!" Sokka was the first to recover.

"Go where?" Zuko asked

"To practice!" Aang was up and out of his chair.

"Yeah it's in about half an hour." Sokka leapt up, grabbed Zuko's arm, and began to drag him away.

"I don't have any gear, I left it all in New York," Zuko exclaimed

"No problem we'll go to Piando's shop." Aang said taking Zuko's other arm without missing a beat. Zuko looked once again to the girls for help and he again found none, but he found Katara's smile, and let himself be dragged away.

"Wait!" Jin Cried after the boys, "Bring him back!"

"Sorry Jin, you know those two." Suki said apologizing to Jin.

"Damn, he was cute too!" Cried Jin. "If he joins the team he'll never have time to work here."

"Sorry Jin." Added Katara, who for some reason was quite perturbed at Jin's liking of Zuko.

"Well, Jin thanks as usual." Added Toph as the three girls left the shop following the boys outside. Iroh came into the front of the store to see what all the racket was about.

"Where is Zuko?" He exclaimed seeing his nephew gone.

"He has gone and been recruited to the hockey team, never to be seen again." Jin said with a heavy sigh. Jin then began cleaning up the mess the gang left behind and a small smile crept onto the old tea shop owners face.

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Yeah, lame made up last names for the characters, yeah i was lazy and made Jin the tea shop girl, yeah hockey is going to be a big part of this story, yeah i humanized Ozai and yeah Azula and co. will show up later, yeah Toph isn't blind, why you ask because i am not a talented enough writer to explain her being blind and able to interact with everyone the way she does in the show without magic. till, next time.


	2. Chapter 2

Wow, been a while, but I have recently found that I have way more free time on my hands, so expect new chapters for all my stories. R&R Please!

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Zuko found himself being taken to a store that really was only a few down from his Uncles tea shop. On the way Sokka was prattling on about the team or something hockey related, while Aang was rather loudly agreeing with him. Zuko was silent, he was trying to figure out the last 36 hours of his life, but kept being interrupted by the most beautiful blue eyes he had ever seen. He was brought out of his thoughts when he heard the bell on the shops door ring as the three boys entered the store. It was a quant little sporting goods store, but the equipment that dominated the inventory belonged to the ice. Hockey gear was everywhere, sticks, gloves, skates, pads, helmets, it went on and on.

"Welcome boys, who is this?" Questioned the older man restocking the shelves.

"This is Zuko Kuzon!" exclaimed Sokka, "he's joining the team!"

"Oh, are you?" mused Piando while he appraised Zuko knowingly.

"Well, I don't, know-"

"Of course he is!" Interrupted Aang, as he swung his arm up and around Zuko's considerably taller shoulders. Zuko looked down at the smaller boy and found himself smiling at the comical way Aang was hanging on him trying to show comradery. Zuko turned back to the man Piando.

"What kind of stock do you have?"

* * *

Zuko found himself pleasantly surprised at the quality of merchandise the little store had. He was picking things off the shelves by sight, knowing exactly what he needed. The one thing about hockey, it's expensive, and as Piando finished ringing Zuko up you could see Sokka and Aang's jaws hit the floor. And then nearly pass out as Zuko swiped his card and signed the receipt. Zuko's expertise and quickness to pay the large bill had them in and out of the shop in minutes. In fact the girls had just stepped in while the guys where headed out arms full with the new gear.

"Wow that was quick." Toph quipped

"Yeah, well, uh, Zuko." Sokka tried to put the whirlwind of Hockey gear and big money that he just witnessed.

"My boyfriend, the linguist." Suki sighed as she took his arm and lead him to the car.

"It was crazy!" Aang exclaimed while flailing his arms in the air. "It was like watching a sweepstakes show! Zuko rolled in there, picked his gear in a flash and threw down major cash, well credit." Katara eyed him skeptically, ready to ask about the rather large sum of money when Toph chimed in.

"Well I mean come on, the heir to Dragon Shipping should be able to pay for some luxuries." Zuko, Aang and Katara all whipped their heads around, starring at Toph in shock.

"How did you know that?" Demanded Zuko, a little more angrily than he wanted. He earned a glare from Katara.

"Yeah, how did you know?" Asked Aang, ignoring Zuko's outburst and Katara's annoyance. Toph sighed and gestured to herself.

"Bei Fong." She stated like it was the obvious answer to Zuko and Aang's question. Zuko huffed and shook his head.

"The largest mining company in North America, I met you at a dinner once before, no wonder I felt like I knew you." Zuko stated while chuckling to himself.

"You met before?" Katara exclaimed.

"You met before?" Aang exclaimed.

"Yup." Toph simply stated as she walked away hands locked behind her head humming a tune with Zuko in tow, leaving Katara and Aang in mild shock.

"Wait up! That's no explanation!" Katara cried while chasing after

* * *

This was not going to be pleasant Zuko mused to himself. Breaking in new skates was the worst part of hockey in his opinion. The hits, the falls, the fights, all these he could take, but the blisters he was sure to get were what he dreaded most. Sokka and Aang had introduced him to the rest of the team in the locker room. They sat him down by a locker and said it was his, Aang was to his right and Haru, the goalie was to his left with Sokka on the other side of Haru. He was a quiet guy, very contemplative, making himself ready. Zuko had played with others like him, so he knew how to interact with him on the ice. The other two boys he met earlier in the day were a completely different story. Aang was running around the room like a maniac, trying to find all his stuff. Sokka was up on a bench recounting the tale of how they bagged themselves a player with championship experience, causing Zuko to be slightly embarrassed while lacing his skates.

"… so he whips out his card and pays the bill like he's buying a soda at the machine!" Sokka finished his story.

"Well, what does coach say?" Haru asked

"He says! Why is everyone still in here when practice started 3 minutes ago!" Came a roar from the doorway. There stood a man of considerable age, with long hair and a beard. The team rushed out of the room and down to the ice. "Sokka, Aang, and whoever you are, stay where you are. Sokka get down from there!"

"You said stay where you are Coach Pakku." Sokka came back with, causing Coach Pakku to sigh and place his head in his hand. Then he turned to Zuko.

"And who may you be?"

"Zuko Kuzon, sir."

"Ah, Iroh's Nephew," Pakku stated stroking his beard. "What makes you think you can just waltz into this locker room and put on this uniform?"

"He's not wearing a uniform just a practice sweater!" Sokka quipped, earning him a glare from the coach.

"Well, I guess Aang and Sokka invited me, and I just tagged along?" was Zuko's unsure answer.

"Coach, he's a champion defenseman! We need somebody to play with Hahn!" Aang chimed in, Sokka made a face at the mention of Hahn. Pakku cracked a smile.

"Well, lets see what you can do boy." And he was off down the hall toward the rink.

* * *

It had only been a few skating drills and Zuko's feet were already beginning to blister. This he saw coming, what he didn't see coming was the packed stands, for a practice! It seemed like every girl in the town was there, and a bunch of old grumpy looking men quietly discussing the team. He was keeping up but wasn't near where he could be, and it was becoming more and more frustrating. Then Pakku called the team to center ice and split the squad for a scrimmage. The crowd roared with applause and screams.

"Coach must want to test you out, we never get to scrimmage." Came a voice from behind Zuko, it was the Hahn boy he was introduced to in the locker room. "Let's see if you're worth the hype our fearless leader has bestowed upon you." Zuko knew a challenge when he heard it, and his competitive nature was in full overdrive.

The puck dropped, Sokka ended up being on Zuko's side while Aang and Hahn were on the other. Aang quickly got possession and came towards Zuko, weaving between everyone in his path. He was quick, agile, and fast, boy he was fast! He came right up to Zuko and in a quick spin was already behind him. Zuko's blistered feet were no match and Aang put the puck in the net before Zuko could reach him. The crowd erupted, chanting "Aang" while the small boy simply smiled and skated away. Zuko was furious, this finesse, figure skating junk wasn't going to fly, and it definitely wouldn't fly back in his old school. He skated over to Aang.

"I'm just going to let you know, that kiddy style of play won't fly against real teams, and if you try it on me again I'm going to put you in the boards." Aang was nothing short of shocked, the kind, a little bit timid Zuko from earlier was completely gone, and he was in full competitive mode.

The puck dropped again. Sokka moved up the ice but was checked hard by Hahn and Aang scooped up the puck. He came up quickly, and tried to put it between Zuko's legs and go around. He ended up on the ice, and a hush fell over the crowd as Zuko moved the puck up to Sokka. Aang was quickly back on his feet and the crowd was back up to its earlier fervor. Zuko and Sokka's side was now on the offense, they didn't have Aang's speed so they had to set up an offense. Sokka was handling the puck behind the goal and Zuko was up at the blue line, nobody was open, it was a mess. Zuko was becoming agitated again, his competitive nature was boiling over. Zuko wasn't used to this level of play, he had been on top teams in his past, and they played top competition. This was the worst team he ever shared the ice with. Sokka was still stalling behind the net, Zuko had it. He slammed his stick on the ice, the sound echoed loudly through the arena. The crowd was momentarily startled by the loud noise and it snapped Sokka's attention to Zuko, he slipped the puck to Zuko at the blue line. Zuko's slap shot rang through the rink, as the puck slammed into the back of the net. The crowd was completely silent, it seemed as if the air had been sucked from the stands. Zuko breathed heavy, his feet were killing him, but it had been so long since he had felt so good, all he could do was let a quick smile cross his lips.

Next thing he heard was Pakku blow the whistle signaling the end of practice and feeling Sokka slap him on the helmet and congratulate him. He gingerly skated off the ice and walked to the locker room where the team was abuzz with the excitement of the scrimmage. Aang had been excellent, and Zuko had lived up to the hype. Stopping their best offensive player cold and the shot, it was all anyone could talk about.

* * *

"You'll be the talk of the town in a few hours." Said Sokka slapping Zuko on the back.

"The what?"

"Did you see all the girls in the stands! I bet they have already texted everyone in town, haha." Came Aang's answer. Zuko wasn't so sure, it was just a practice after all.

"Oh man, wait until Katara gets a hold of you!" One of the other boys shouted. Causing Zuko to instantly blush. _A hold of him_? What did that mean? Did he want her to get a hold of him? Oh man, the pain in his feet was gone thinking of her.

"Oh no…" Sokka seemed scared, alarming Zuko from his thoughts, "you checked Aang to the ice!" He was becoming more irrational and Zuko was becoming more confused. "Lock The Door!" Came Sokka's desperate plea.

But it was too late, the door slammed open, revealing a very angry blue eyed girl.

* * *

Kinda lame chapter, trying to find my way back into this story, more to come!


	3. Chapter 3

Here's chapter 3, kind of short but its kind of just here to bridge Zuko arriving and the main story, enjoy. Read and Review please!

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Zuko sat confused on the folding chair in front of his new locker. All he was wearing was his hockey pants and skates, there were boys wearing far less and yet despite this, the girl was advancing into the locker room. He began to notice that his was the only expression of confusion and mild annoyance, everyone else was extremely afraid. His gaze came back to the floor between him and the young girl, then up her jeans over her black hooded sweater and finally to a very unhappy face punctuated with two striking blue eyes.

"Can I help you?" Zuko asked very condescendingly, the other boys made hushed pained noises as if they themselves were the ones being glared at.

"Excuse me?" Came her seething reply.

"Can I help you? Are you lost?" Zuko was sticking to his earlier tone and again the boys around the room winced and cried out as if they were being mercilessly tortured. Zuko could see that Katara was about to explode on him so he cut her off. "You do know that you're in the boy's locker room and everyone in here is in the middle of changing, right?" Katara halted her retort and out of her peripheral vision began to notice the half naked and completely naked young men surrounding her and blushed furiously but would not be silenced, she had come this far.

"You do know that was just practice, right?" Zuko gave her a raised eyebrow as a response. She grew even more furious. "You knocked Aang to the ice for no good reason!" Aang's pleas from the background for her to calm down went unheeded. "What if he got hurt? I don't know how they do it in the BIG CITY, but here you don't hurt you're teammates! Who do you think you are? And how dare you talk to me like that? Of course I'm not lost, this is MY town!" As she ranted Zuko just let out an exasperated sigh and began to notice his new team beginning to change and leave as quickly and quietly as they could. Sokka was also leaving, dragging a worried Aang with him. Zuko looked back to Katara still in mid-rant, but it had gone off on some tangent about rich and poor or something of that nature. So Zuko did the only thing he could think of, he continued to undress.

Katara was soon speechless, he was loosening his pants and skates right in front of her. She was suddenly aware of his physique, he had broad shoulders and abs and biceps and those lines on the side of his hips that led down to his- She jolted back to the moment extremely flustered with a very amused Zuko sitting in front of her. She was about to launch herself into another tirade when he very gingerly took his left skate off, and she saw the blood.

"Oh my god what the hell happened to your foot!" She screamed, completely forgetting her earlier rage.

"Well, first practice on new skates and the blisters must have popped and-" Zuko was cut off when Katara took his hand and wrenched him upright, balancing his right skate on the rubber padding that covered the locker room floor. "Wha- What are you doing!" He yelped as she dragged him to the room with the word Trainer stenciled on the door. She flung the door open revealing an examination table against one wall and a bunch of cabinets across from it with an office chair in the middle.

"Sit" Katara commanded and Zuko hoisted himself up on the padded table, He never understood why these things were always so tall in doctor's offices. He leaned his back against the cool wall behind him and let his legs dangle over the side to the table. Katara took a seat in the chair and rolled over to the cabinets and retrieving medical supplies form them. "Why would you go all out on new skates, stupid." She commented while still facing away from him, preparing what she took out of the cabinets. Zuko looked up to the ceiling with a lop-sided grin.

"I guess I never do anything half-assed, and I rarely give up." He began to remember when his never say die attitude had gotten him in all sorts of trouble back home. Then he began to notice Katara removing his remaining skate and then he came fully out his short daydream when she unceremoniously ripped it from his tender foot.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

* * *

On the other side of the Trainers room door the rest of the team was eavesdropping, they had snuck back into the locker room when they saw the coast was clear. When they heard Zuko's blood curdling cry of pain, they bowed their heads in solace and left, for he was surely dead.

* * *

"Baby" Katara curtly stated and placed the skate on the floor. That would teach him to talk down to her. Zuko didn't even reply, he was too busy inspecting his foot and whimpering to himself. She took his foot back from his grasp and began to apply ointment and bandage it. "You know you really didn't have to hit Aang like that." She stated, not once looking up from her work. Zuko was surprised at how good his foot began to feel and at how civil she had become. He sighed.

"I know." Came his reply, soft and sincere. Katara froze for a split second at his husky voice, gone was the cocky, brash tone from earlier. It was replaced with wistfulness, full of regret, but not just from his actions on the ice, something more. "My anger and pride usually get the better of me." He gave a light chuckle. Katara finally looked up at him. His golden eyes were deep in thought, a thousand miles away from the room they shared this moment. She finished the foot she was working on and moved to the other, it was in worse shape than the first. They continued to sit in silence as she finished healing his feet.

* * *

Zuko slowly waked out to the parking lot, bracing himself with one hand against a wall as he carefully walked on his sore feet. Katara had stood up and left the moment she had finished on his feet. There was a definite awkwardness as she worked on him, she had been so tender and caring that he didn't quite know what to say when she was walking out. The solemn "Thank you" he gave her would have to suffice he decided. When he got to the parking lot he found it quite empty, of course it was he took a while to finish changing and the walk out alone took up a fair amount of time. Then screeching down the street came the blue jeep he had ridden in to the rink. Sokka pulled up and he saw Aang in the passenger seat.

"We figured you needed a ride!" came Sokka's up-beat greeting.

"Well, duh Sokka, we kind of dragged him here" Aang said while chuckling and ribbing the back of his neck. Zuko then opened the back seat door and climbed in. Aang turned in his seat to look at Zuko. "Katara sent us back for you, Sokka kind of forgot we brought you." Aang apologized.

"You forgot too!" Sokka protested, "Geez, I'm always the fall guy!" Zuko smiled tiredly and leaned back into his seat.

"Just take me home please." Was all Zuko said and Sokka obliged. As the music got turned up and Aang and Sokka fell into a conversation, Zuko noticed he just referred to his Uncles house as "home". He leaned over and looked out the window at the sleepy little town, yes, he decided, home...

"Hey!" Sokka looked over his shoulder at Zuko, "Where do you live?"


	4. Chapter 4

Here is Chapter 4, enjoy!

* * *

The next morning Zuko woke up to an extremely sore body. He hadn't put in a workout for quite some time, even one as short as the one yesterday took a lot out of him. He also woke up to some loud voices. He sat up and without thinking about it placed his feet on the ground, he instantly remembered about the pain that would surely hit him when they hit the floor and braced himself, but the pain never came. Zuko looked down and inspected his feet. They were already quickly on the mend, and instead of the intense pain he expected, there was only a dull ache. He smiled to himself and thought of Katara. He gentle touch, and deep blue eyes. When they were alone in the Trainers room he caught himself staring at her more than once, he was brought out of his thoughts as the loud voices came up the stairs, and then they were right outside his door.

"Good Morning!" Sokka exclaimed as he burst through Zuko's door, to find Zuko sitting on his bed. "Great, you're already up! Let's get a move on!"

"Get a move on where?" Zuko asked. Then he noticed Aang behind Sokka talking to his Uncle, Aang looked over to Zuko waived and went back to his lively conversation with Iroh.

"To the diner!" Sokka answered, still very loudly. "The ladies are downstairs waiting, we got a lot to do today Zuko!" Sokka continued as he moved over to Zuko's dresser and began digging through it, much to Zuko's annoyance.

"What do you think you're doi-"Zuko was cut off by a shirt to the face, as he recovered from the shock it was followed by a pair of jeans to the face.

"Let's go Zuko." It was Aang this time, rushing Zuko from the doorway. "We're going to introduce you around town, Katara and Suki's phones have been off the hook from all the girls in town demanding to know who you are and why they have been keeping you to themselves." Aang stated with laughter. Zuko just raised an eyebrow. Then looked back to Sokka.

"Everyone in town is curious about the ringer Aang and I showed up with to practice yesterday." Sokka explained, "Plus Gran Gran demands you're presence, you are to be judged!" Sokka, trying quite hard to look menacing, bellowed while pointing at Zuko. Zuko again just raised an eyebrow and looked to his Uncle for some sort of sane explanation. Iroh opened his mouth to give one when Katara pushed past him.

"What's all this ruckus? Why aren't you dressed yet? Sokka, Aang downstairs! You get dressed!" She commanded, then after shooing Sokka and Aang downstairs closed Zuko's door while apologizing to Iroh for all the noise. Zuko sighed and began to get changed.

* * *

Katara was sitting on the couch next to Suki in a very comfortable living room, it was full of knick knacks and photos, exactly the sort of home she expected Mr. Kuzon to have, but not at all the place she expected Zuko to be living. But she did recognize a young Zuko in a lot of the pictures around the house. He was with a very serious, almost devious looking girl in most of them. Katara and Suki were having a pleasant cup of tea with Iroh who was sitting in the arm chair across from them. They had sent Toph and the boys outside, they were being far too rambunctious and loud for the small home they had invaded this morning.

Her phone buzzed again, she rolled her eyes. The town that ran on hockey was in an uproar. A stranger had shown up to the High School teams practice and made the varsity squad look like fools, and he had only been seen around town with her and her friends. So obviously everyone wanted to know everything. Her homes phone had been off the hook all night and all morning. The old men that did nothing but watch the team practice and play, then breathe down Coach Pakku's neck had been bothering her father mercilessly. Not to mention the entire schools female population had heard about his looks and her private encounter with him in the locker room. Katara looked over to Suki who was also trying to handle the influx of texts she was receiving.

"So, you're the group that stole my nephew from the shop?" Iroh asked bringing Katara out of her thoughts.

"Uh, well, yes sorry Mr. Kuzon" Katara began, a little embarrassed, "You know Sokka, hockey on the brain, he kind of got carried away."

"I'd say I was the one that got carried away, literally." Katara looked to the stairs, where Zuko was descending while pulling his shirt over his bare chest, Katara found herself admiring his physique, again. She looked away to Suki, who was not looking away from Zuko, Katara slapped Suki's leg and gave her an accusing stare. Suki responded with a shrug and a smile.

"Well Jin was quite unhappy." Iroh said followed by a mirthful laugh, "you'll have to apologize to her." He looked up at Zuko who was now beside him with a bit of seriousness. Zuko looked away and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Yeah, I know, sorry about bailing on the tea shop Uncle." Katara giggled at how uncomfortable Zuko was. Her laugh got his attention, their eyes met. She liked his eyes, they were warm, even when he was trying to be an ass like yesterday. Zuko gave her a lopsided smile, she smiled back.

"No matter Nephew" Iroh said, accepting Zuko's apology. "Once everyone knows that my Nephew is the mysterious new hockey player the stores business with triple, I'll hire somebody else to help out." Zuko buried his beet red face in his hands.

* * *

Zuko found himself in Suki's green SUV, he also found himself scared for his life. He was gripping the "oh shit" bar so tight he was afraid of ripping it off the roof. Suki was driving very fast and weaving through the streets of the small town, while talking to Sokka who was sitting shot-gun. Zuko was in the middle row sitting next to Katara, who also was talking to Suki, and Aang and Toph were in the back row talking about some MMA match they had watched a few days ago, Toph seemed really into it. All the while the music was quite loud, and Zuko was amazed nobody else in the vehicle was afraid for their lives. He then felt a hand on his shoulder, he looked over to see Katara laughing.

"Don't worry, Suki always drives like this" she assured him with a smile, he returned it.

"Where are we going?" Zuko asked her. "What did Sokka mean by big day?" She laughed again, he liked her laugh, she laughed with her whole body, it was genuine, he liked genuine.

"Well, since you pulled that little slap shot of yours yesterday the whole town has been asking who you are." She took out her phone. "This thing has been going non-stop. So we're going to show you around town, but first breakfast." She winked at him, he looked out the window and blushed. Suki had been watching their little exchange in the rearview mirror, and laughed to herself.

"What?" Sokka asked.

"Nothing babe" She replied, then made her next turn harder than she needed to, sending Katara sliding into Zuko.

* * *

Zuko walked into the diner with the name Gran Gran's on the sign. The others were chatting away about this or that and they all settled into a booth, Zuko remained standing. The place was more Hockey Museum than a diner. He was walking along the wall, studying the many photos, some older than he could guess, some were very new. The legends of the NHL were right alongside the legends of this town.

"State Champions 1936" he quietly read to himself, as he ran his fingers along the brass plaque on the frame holding a team photo, it was old, and yellowing, but the pride on the players faces did not. He remembered his championship team from just last year, their team photo looked a lot different. Not smiles and joy, just sneers and contempt. For the other teams, and for each other.

"Why hello young man." Came an elderly voice, old but strong. Zuko turned around to find an older woman smiling at him. "Let me have a look at you." She said then grabbed his face in her two hands, they felt like leather, but they were warm and comforting. He looked over the woman's shoulder, the group was sitting at the table and giggling to themselves while watching him, he was only watching two perfect blue eyes. "Stop staring at my granddaughter." Zuko snapped back to the woman holding his face.

"You're wha-"

"My granddaughter." She stated simply while looking into his eyes. She had kind eyes, pale blue, all knowing. He felt his pulse slow down, he forgot about the group at the table, he stopped trying to ask questions. "You're going to have to watch yourself, you're pride and anger will be your downfall, and it could have been Aang's yesterday."

"I'm, I'm sorry." It was all he could think to say, there was no smart remark on the tip of his tongue like usual. He was completely submissive to this woman he just met. She released his face and he was seemingly transported back to the diner. "It's ok, just don't go beating up on my best customer." She said with a smile, and then walked back behind the counter, but not before giving him a little grope on the butt and a mirthful laugh.

* * *

Zuko ate breakfast with his new friends. Were they his friends? He wondered to himself. They were hanging out a lot, they laughed with him, joked with him, told stories to each other. It was like his friends back home, but he was more at ease with these people, no pretense of social status, no sense of backstabbing just around the corner. He smiled and laughed at Toph's joke. He could see why Aang was this place's best customer, it was like nothing he had ever seen before, more food was consumed by the small boy than a small country.

"Sokka may be hungry all the time, but when Aang is hungry you just get out of the way." Katara explained as the table erupted in more laughter. The bell on the door jingled drawing the young group's attention. It was a sheriff, he strutted in taking in the scenery.

"Hakoda, come here and give me a kiss." Gran Gran said to the officer, he smiled and obliged giving her a peck on the cheek. "What can I get you?" She asked sweetly.

"Some coffee would be lovely." He replied, his voice was warm and genuine, but had a gruff edge that commanded authority. Then he placed his large brimmed hat on the counter and turned to the booth full of teenagers. His gaze on Zuko. Each step he took towards the table Zuko grew smaller and smaller. Then he was in front of Zuko, towering over him. He was a broad man, stood at least 6'4", and the uniform didn't help to diminish his imposing figure. "Hello Mr. Kuzon." Oh god. The three words that started every conversation Zuko had ever had with every member of the NYPD. "Quite the show you put on yesterday." Huh, Zuko wasn't expecting that. "I had to unplug the phone at my house so I could get some sleep" He gave an exasperated sigh. "My Son just had to be the one to discover you, and my daughter just had to be the one that treated your injuries, in private." As he emphasized the last two words he through a sideways glance to Katara.

"Oh, Daddy, stop being such a hard-ass." Was Katara's reply, wait, Daddy? Zuko looked to Katara, she had a goofy grin on her face as she shook her head. "Zuko this is my father, Sheriff Akiak, Sokka's and my father." Zuko gave a nervous chuckle and stood up, he only came to Hakoda's chin.

"Nice to meet you sir." He simply stated and put out his hand for a handshake. Hakoda laughed heartily.

"Sir? Oh my I like him already." Was the Sheriffs reply as he took Zuko's hand and shook it, rather roughly. "These punks have no respect!" He laughed again.

"Oh, come on Chief. We kind of listen to you!" Toph blurted out, and the table burst into hysterics, Zuko continued to nervously chuckle.

"Well, you young man" Hakoda turned back to Zuko after laughing with the teens "have chosen a good group to associate with, and since they have accepted you, I have faith in your character as well." In that simple sentence, Hakoda had made Zuko feel more at right with himself than his own father ever had.

* * *

After Hakoda had left Gran Gran's the group did as well. Suki drove them to Main St. and they walked around. Laughing, telling stories, and going into shops here and there. Zuko found every story he told started with "well, back in Manhattan" and the others were more than willing to listen, but it just felt strange since all the stories they told intertwined and they picked up where the other left off. He felt like an outsider again. Almost everywhere they went Zuko was introduced and asked a million questions, and as the day grew longer, the more people started showing up on Main St. to see the new guy, mostly girls he would be going to school with. Katara noticed his increasing discomfort, her brother and Aang ate this stuff up. Sokka was especially enjoying regaling their classmates how he discovered Zuko in his Uncles tea shop. Suki was off talking to a group of girls and Toph was leaning on Aang adding bits and pieces to the story. She grabbed his hand and pulled him into the nearest shop.

* * *

Well, what do you think? Guess its time to have them start school too, maybe get to some games. See you next time!


	5. Chapter 5

Hi everyone! A nice long chapter here for you guys. Read and Review please, enjoy!

* * *

Zuko felt someone drag him into the nearest store. The chimes of a small bell rang as they entered. The door shut swiftly behind them, and he came face to face with the brilliant blue eyes he had been stealing glances at all day. It was Katara that pulled him away from the growing throng. He stared at her dumbly until she could no longer meet his gaze and turned away with a slight flush in her cheeks, Zuko gave a small grin to his rescuer. He then noticed his hand was still in hers. She must have been reading his mind because she seemed to notice at the same time and let him go. The lingering warmth from her grip remained, but it was fading, he didn't want it to. Now it had become very apparent that neither had spoken since Katara's brash actions had landed them here together. The silence was becoming very uncomfortable, closing in on unbearable. Katara finally looked as if she was going to say something. She inhaled sharply and opened her mouth to speak, but he cut her off.

"Thank you." Zuko said quickly and quietly, almost as if it was just to himself. He was fidgeting, feeling uncomfortable in his own skin.

"Well I could see you looked uncomfortable, and Sokka doesn't know when to shut up, and Aang doesn't always grasp the situation so well, and…" she trailed off looking at the floor and playing with her hair.

"Well, yeah, the crowd was a little nuts." He chuckled scratching the back of his head glancing out the window. Then he stopped laughing and looked her in the eye. "But what I meant, what I meant was to thank you for healing me yesterday." He looked to his feet and shuffled them a bit. "They feel a thousand times better today." He smiled. "I don't know what I would have done without you." He stopped smiling and his eyes widened. The last line was meant to be innocuous but after Zuko said it he blushed furiously and cursed himself as he continued to stare at his feet.

"It's no problem, really." Katara replied, also seeming unsure of what to say or do. All day so far they had been in a large group and their awkward encounter in the locker room yesterday had been pushed to the back of Zuko's mind. Now, though, it was just the two of them and the events of yesterday were playing in his head. When he looked up Katara was slowly meandering through the store she had dragged him into. It was a shop filled with knick knacks, figurines, picture frames, wind chimes, you name it. She was inquisitively looking in one of the glass cases along the wall. He walked up behind her and saw what she was looking at. It was a glass rose, very pretty, almost as if it could be made of ice.

"This place reminds me of my Uncles house." Zuko remarked as he moved away from the case Katara was peering into. She looked up from the rose and smiled.

"He must be their best customer." She laughed. She then followed him to the set of shelves Zuko was looking over. It was full of all things hockey. Little porcelain players, snow globes with ice rinks inside, little placards with places to put team photos. Zuko noticed her appear beside him. "You don't let on too much, but you're as crazy about hockey as the others." Zuko turned to her with a raised eyebrow, she returned his look with an amused smirk. "I saw they way you gawked around Gran's place, and the look on your face after you scored yesterday." He sighed.

"It's the only thing that made him proud of me." Zuko whispered, it was just loud enough for Katara to hear. He was using that wistful, remorseful voice she had heard him use in the locker room yesterday. She was studying his face when he turned to her, catching her staring. He sighed again and tried to explain. "My Father," He began "isn't the most enthusiastic of parents. Well, not with me anyways." He snorted, and looked back to the shelves of hockey memorabilia. "Azula, my sister, was always doted on. She's a prodigy after all, academics, athletics, everything she does she is the best at. She's especially good when it comes to making me look like an idiot." Zuko picked up a snow globe and shook it, creating a blizzard around the tiny pond full of kids playing hockey in the dome. "But on the few occasions he came to watch, he would smile and clap when I did well." He put the snow globe back on the shelf. "Even though he was way up in the stands, and I was down on the ice, I never felt closer to him than those moments." Katara didn't say anything, she looked to be in shock. Zuko felt like an idiot, "Sorry, that was a bit much to unload on you, especially since I've known you for less than twenty-four hours."

* * *

"No, I just, I…" Katara couldn't get her footing, she hadn't expected him to open up like that. She didn't know what to say or do. The moment had been so intimate, she didn't want him to stop talking. Now he was just staring at her, and she was paralyzed by the weight of his story. Katara thanked her lucky stars when her Brother came barging in to the shop to collect Zuko for that afternoons practice.

* * *

Katara was now she was sitting with Toph and Suki in the stands as the boys skated down on the ice. She had completely tuned out her friends conversation to her right and was intently watching the team's new defensemen. The arena for today's practice was much more crowded than yesterday, everyone clamoring to watch the team's new edition. Katara looked up over her shoulder to see the group of old men that seemed to have nothing to do but discuss high school hockey nodding and murmuring to each other. Sitting with them was her Father, for some reason being Sheriff meant that everyone came to him when they wanted to have input on the team. He would then go see Coach Pakku, and that was how things worked in South Point. She waved to her Father, he waved back and smiled. Katara then turned to Suki and Toph.

"This is boring!" Toph exclaimed, "They only scrimmaged for like 15 minutes yesterday and now it's all drills!"

"Plus look at all these people that are never here usually," Suki added, "its way too crowded and loud to do homework like we usually do." She complained. "Your man is to blame for all this." Toph snickered, but it was a few seconds before Katara got the joke.

"Wait! My what?" Katara screeched at Suki, Toph became hysterical, and everyone in the section turned to an embarrassed Katara. When they went back to watching practice and their own conversations Katara lowered her voice and glared at Suki. "What the hell Suki?"

"What?" Suki asked with an over exaggerated look of innocence on her face. "You were all touchy feely in my car and then disappeared with him this afternoon." She explained with a devious smirk.

"Touchy feely?" Katara was going trying to control her voice, not wanting to draw attention to herself again. "A hand on the shoulder hardly counts as anything, and I only fell on him because of your insane driving. As for this afternoon, well…" She didn't want to explain about the need she felt to save Zuko from the crowd, they would take that the wrong way, or try to hold it over her head. She definitely didn't want to explain what they talked about, but she didn't want to tell them that because Katara wanted to keep it to herself. She wanted to be the only one who knew what Zuko had opened up to her about.

"Hmm?" Toph was waiting for Katara to finish her sentence, then decided to finish it for her, "this afternoon we went and got freaky in the knick knack shop!" Toph and Suki erupted into laughter, and Katara buried her head in her hands.

"Would you two just shut up?" Katara mumbled through her hands. She looked between her fingers to the ice, Zuko, Aang and Sokka were staring at the girls with quizzical expressions. Sokka said something to the others out of the side of his mouth, Aang laughed and skated off, followed by Sokka. Zuko stood still, and smirked up at Katara. It was obvious to everyone around her that it was at her he was looking at. Katara could have died.

* * *

The rest of the week had gone mostly the same for Zuko. He would wake up to Sokka and Aang in Sokka's Jeep outside the house, sometimes one of the girls would be with them. They would hang out around town, ducking the curious locals. Then go to practice and head home after for dinner with Uncle. Now it was Saturday, no practice. Zuko was a bit nervous though, being busy all week had kept his mind occupied. But this weekend was the last two days of the holiday vacation, and it would be spring semester on Monday. What if the curriculum was completely different from his old school and he was lost? What if his teachers wanted him to make up a bunch of stuff from the fall semester? Then there was Hockey on top of that, how was he going to juggle it all? He was lying on his bed musing about all this when Sokka burst in his room.

"Sup." Sokka said casually and sat down in Zuko's desk chair. Zuko remained prone, but turned his head to Sokka.

"Yo." He replied

"What you want to do today?" Sokka asked while turning to Zuko's laptop and began to surf the internet.

"I don't know," Zuko replied as he went back to staring at the ceiling. "Where is everybody else?"

"Aang and Toph are over at his house, something about an MMA fight on this afternoon." Sokka stuck his tongue out, not looking up form the laptop. "I personally don't really enjoy the stuff, Aang kind of does but Toph's a fanatic, so Aang goes along with it." He opened Zuko's iTunes and picked something to listen to. "Suki and Katara left early this morning and drove out to the mall. I declined, shopping isn't really my thing." Zuko rubbed his face and groaned, willing himself awake. He didn't dislike MMA, but he didn't really follow it either. Shopping wasn't his thing either, although hanging out with three girls most of his life meant he had been on his fare share of shopping excursions. But driving out to a mall didn't sound all that- wait? Drive out to a what? Zuko propped himself up on his elbows.

"Drive out to a mall?" He asked Sokka. Sokka turned in the swivel chair facing Zuko and grinned.

"Not exactly a metropolis here," Sokka gestured out Zuko's window. "Have to drive about an hour over to Rochester for what Suki describes as a proper mall" Sokka explained, making air quotes with his fingers when he said proper mall. Zuko chuckled and flopped back on to his back and Sokka returned to the laptop. "So," Sokka continued, "What do you want to do today?"

"I don't know."

* * *

"Do you think I own too much blue?" Katara asked Suki without looking up from the table of shirts she was digging through to find something to try on.

"Well, it is the color you wear the most, but it makes your eyes stand out." Suki replied from the other side of a rack of dresses, "man I wish it would warm up so I could wear some of these." She stated with a frown.

"I know, everyone always tells me I look so good in blue, but I want to branch out." She groaned looking at the shirt she was holding. It looked cute folded on the table, but was hideous when you saw the whole thing. "Yeah, I'm tired of wearing jeans and sweaters, a dress would be a nice change of pace." Ever since Suki started dating Sokka they had become close friends, it was nice to have a girl her age to hang out with. It was difficult to be girly with Aang, Toph, and her brother. They also almost always were on the same wavelength, and when by themselves could hold two conversations at once like they were now.

"Well, Zuko seems to wear a lot of red." Suki said, now standing next to Katara.

"So?" Katara replied, giving Suki a look of annoyance. Suki didn't seem to notice, or pretended she didn't notice Katara's mood shift and nonchalantly picked up a red tank top with a few buttons down the front to allow for more cleavage. She held it against Katara's chest.

"Maybe it's his favorite color?" She said with a wink and a smirk. Katara's face turned as red as the tank Suki was holding against her. She then snatched the shirt from Suki's grasp.

"Shut up." Katara muttered, thumbing the hem of the shirt in her hands.

* * *

"The Boulder is going to demolish him!" Toph exclaimed, standing on the couch in a triumphant pose. Aang was laughing through the handful of chips in his mouth. Toph plopped back down to a sitting position. "How much longer until it starts?" Toph exclaimed with a frustrated sigh.

"Not for a few more hours." Aang absent mindedly replied, his eyes on the Sabers game currently occupying the television screen. "It's only noon." He further explained while stuffing a slice of pizza into his face. Toph turned her attention to the game as well. Toph had invited Aang over to watch the UFC fight, and he had offered to come over earlier to watch the Buffalo Sabers game before hand as well. When he got there Toph and Aang proceeded to order more junk food than they could possibly eat. Then hunkered down for a long day of sports and a coma educing amount of grease. Katara and Suki had invited her to go to the mall with them, but that was definitely not her cup of tea. She wouldn't miss one of the Boulder's fights for anything, especially shopping. The match wasn't for a while and Toph was beginning to get bored, all Aang was doing was watching hockey and eating copious amounts of food. She then got an idea of how to pass the time. Aang had no idea what hit him.

* * *

"Ahh!" Aang screamed through the pizza he was currently trying to chew, Toph had blindsided him, and she laughed as she got the upper hand on him. He quickly scrambled to even the playing field. He and Toph had wrestled and roughhoused as long as they had known each other. It had been a while since she attacked him though. Using the muscle puberty and hockey had recently bestowed upon him he easily got out of Toph's grapple and got to his feet. The Bei Fong's spacious living room was perfect for an impromptu wrestling match. Toph and Aang stood across from each other in defensive stances, smirks on their faces. Toph used to consistently pound on him as children, but he had grown faster and stronger. He mused on how him starting to win most of their bouts had led to less and less of her attacks, Toph hated losing anything. In his moment of distraction Toph had attacked, he was suddenly on his back Toph straddling him. He sighed and let his head fall to the floor. Toph began to do some sort of victory dance while straddling him. This sort of victory celebration would have been nothing two or three years ago, but they were 15 now. Aang was like any 15 year old boy, a gyrating girl on your lap caused a reaction. Toph suddenly stopped, and they scrambled away from each other. They sat in silence as far away as possible from each other on the couch. The Boulders match was the furthest thing from their mind.

* * *

Zuko and Sokka stepped into Gran Gran's, they finally decided food would be a good way to start the morning, well, a good way to start the afternoon. Being teenage boys didn't exactly make for early starts on weekends. This was actually the subject of their conversation.

"So Suki and Katara bust into my bedroom at like 7:00am trying to get me to drive them to Rochester," Sokka continued to explain his morning to Zuko. "I was like what the hell? Didn't they realize it was Saturday?" Sokka noticed his Father at the counter, sitting with his best friend and Deputy, Bato. "Hey Pop's!" Sokka greeted, slapping his Father on the back. Hakoda turned in his stool to face his Son and Zuko with a smile.

"What brings you two here?" He asked full of mirth.

"Breakfast!" Sokka exclaimed.

"You mean lunch?" came a new voice, Sokka looked over to see his Grandmother coming out of the kitchen behind the counter with two plates with burgers and fries. She placed them in front of Hakoda and Bato. "Afternoon boys." She greeted turning to Sokka and Zuko.

"Hey Gran Gran!" Sokka exclaimed "We're starving!"

"Afternoon Ma'am" Zuko replied. Zuko then got a swift slap to the side of the head. Gran Gran had somehow, despite her diminutive stature, reached across the counter and caught Zuko with smack. Sokka was laughing hysterically at his friend's bewildered look. Hakoda and Bato let out chuckles as well. Sokka opened his mouth to explain to the confused Zuko when Gran Gran spoke up.

"The names Gran Gran young man, not Ma'am." She said, emphasizing the Ma'am with a disgusted face. "Now what can I fix you boys?" Sokka and Zuko ordered and settled into the same booth the group always seemed to inhabit.

"So, now what do you want to do until the party?" Sokka asked Zuko. Zuko responded with a quizzical look. Then Sokka realized why Zuko was confused. "Oh, yeah, sorry," Sokka laughed. "It's just been common knowledge for so long I totally spaced." Sokka took a sip from his coke. "Since it's the last Weekend before school starts back up we're having a huge party at Haru's."

"Haru doesn't seem like the party type." Zuko responded. Sokka was about to explain further when Gran Gran came over with their food. They thanked her and Sokka waited for her to retreat before continuing.

"Well, its more like everyone else is throwing the party and Haru is just supplying the venue." Sokka sheepishly said while taking a bit of his sandwich. He continued on with his mouth full. "His Dad works for Bei Fong Mining and is away on business right now so we sort of annexed his house." Zuko laughed while downing his meal. Hakoda walked over, he and Bato had finished their burgers.

"Well see you later, back on duty for us." Hakoda said to the boys. "Where did you're sister run off to this morning by the way?" He asked Sokka.

"Her and Suki went over to Rochester to go shopping," Sokka replied, his mouth full of food. "They'll be back tonight some time." Hakoda nodded and exited with Bato, giving a final waive as they left.

"Shopping, huh?" came Gran Gran's voice as she appeared next to the booth, picking up the boys empty plates. "They must want to look good for the party tonight." She cackled at Sokka's shocked face. "Don't worry, won't tell your Father." She laughed again as the color returned to Sokka's face and turned to Zuko. "I wonder who Katara wants to look good for?" She seemed to ask herself, but the question was clearly directed at Zuko. He turned beet red as she ruffled his hair and walked away.

* * *

Hope You liked it, up next: The cliche teenage house party!


	6. Chapter 6

Wow, you Lucky Ducks, you get two chapters back to back. Actually i just kept writing and writing and figured 2 normal sized chapters made more sense than one huge one. Well here it goes. Read and review please! Enjoy!

* * *

Zuko followed Sokka out of Gran Gran's, and out into the parking lot. Sokka was explaining something about the party at Haru's. They decided to waste some time at Sokka's house. Zuko was mildly curious to see the house. Over the past week if they hung out at anyone's house it was Uncle's place. Zuko began to head to Sokka's Jeep when he felt Sokka's hand on his shoulder.

"Wont need to drive, its close, we'll hoof it." Sokka tuned and began to walk down the street into the housing track behind Gran Gran's. Zuko looked back to the car and then jogged a few steps to catch up with Sokka.

"Wouldn't it be quicker to drive?" Zuko asked, Sokka let out a chuckle.

"Not really." He replied, leaving Zuko in the dark about what the laugh meant. Zuko soon got the joke, Sokka's home was the house right next to the diner. They walked up the steps and let themselves in. Noticing Zuko's surprise at the proximity of the house to the diner, Sokka explained. "This is where Gran Gran has lived since, like, forever."

"You've always lived with her?" Zuko asked while poking his head around the downstairs of the house. It was a bit larger than his Uncle's, but it had way more photographs. It seemed like generations upon generations of the family had lived here, slowly adding pictures to the collection as time went on.

"This isn't the house I grew up in," Sokka began. "This is the house that my Mom grew up in," Sokka's eyes seemed to glaze over. He was working something out in his head. Zuko was about to ask what was wrong when Sokka spoke again, seemingly to himself. "Well, everybody else knows," Sokka sighed and looked back to Zuko. "My Mom died about 7 years ago." Zuko was struck, this had all of a sudden become a very personal conversation. "When she died, well, we just sort of moved in with Gran Gran." Zuko was silent, he didn't quite know how to handle this situation. He had become fairly close with Sokka over the past week, but this was big thing for Sokka to tell him. "I guess it was because Dad needed help with Katara and me, he was a mess, Gran Gran stepped in and helped raise us." He could tell by the way Sokka was fidgeting and avoiding eye contact that he was also unsure of how to go on with this conversation.

"I also lost my Mother." Zuko said, Sokka looked up, clearly surprised. Zuko shrugged, "so I understand if you don't want to elaborate any further on it." Sokka gave an appreciative smile and then was off up the stairs with Zuko in tow.

* * *

Suki was speeding through South Point as per the usual, while Katara was picking through her bags from the mall. She was mulling over the things that they had bought that day. Katara was sure that that she had bought too much. It would probably be a while before they made this trek again. She would have to just make sure to keep the tags on and return it some of it when they went back.

"So what are you going to wear tonight?" Suki asked breaking Katara's train of thought, they had run out of gossip about half way back from Rochester and had been sitting in silence listening to music since then.

"Uh, well, I don't know, nothing special." She mentally cursed herself, Suki would have surely seen her shove the red shirt she bought today deep into the bag she was currently holding.

"Oh really?" Suki continued to pry with a devious smile and a sideways glance from the driver seat. "I think you should wear that red one I picked out for you." Katara gave an exasperated huff and leaned back into her seat with her arms crossed.

"Really, why is that?" Katara replied obviously annoyed, she knew exactly where this was going.

"I think Zuko will like it." Suki answered, confirming what Katara had guessed.

"God, what is up with this?" Katara exclaimed, looking up . "You and Toph are ridiculous, I don't even really know the guy." Suki was laughing now, Katara had risen to the bait.

"At least admit you think he's attractive." Suki said while continuing to laugh. Katara whipped her head around to look out the window and hide her blush. She had to admit he was good looking. He was well built, a strong jaw line, and those golden eyes… "Earth to Katara?" Suki suddenly brought Katara out of her thoughts.

"Huh?" was all Katara could muster as a reply.

"Fantasizing are we?" Suki teased, and Katara tried to hide the blush slowly rising in her cheeks again but Suki saw this time. "Oh my god! You totally were!" Suki burst into hysterics and the SUV began to swerve.

"Suki! Jesus Suki, You're going to kill us!" Katara screamed while bracing herself against the dash board. Suki easily regained control and brought them back into their lane. Then gave an annoyed look to Katara.

"Overreacting much Katara?" Came Suki's response to Katara's outburst. "So, what were you thinking about doing to Zuko tonight?"

"Nothing!" Katara shouted, in a full flush of embarrassment. She was sputtering and mumbling and was most certainly now thinking of things to do to Zuko tonight now that Suki had put the thought in her head. "I'm not like you and my brother!" was the best comeback she could muster.

"You mean normal teenagers?" Suki asked in a matter-of-fact tone of voice. "I mean really Katara, I'm not sure if you've even kissed a boy." Katara jaw seemed to hit the floor. "As for your brother and I," She began with a grin, "we just act upon certain needs"

"Oh god Suki!" Katara cut her off, "I do not need to know about my brothers needs!" She shouted. "and I have too kissed a boy" she added on in a much quieter tone." It was Suki's turn to act surprised.

"Katara!" She wailed, "Who? Where? When? Tell me now!" Suki squealed. Katara bit her lip, looking unsure.

"Hahn." Katara mumbled.

"What?" Suki wailed "That prick!" Katara was trying to somehow sink into the crease of her seat and disappear. Suki was going on about what an ass Hahn was, Katara didn't disagree. "When?" Suki finally demanded.

"It was middle school at a party, and well it just kind of happened, and Sokka freaked! You know it's kind of impossible for anyone in this town to ask you out when Sokka is your brother." Katara complained. Suki shook her head.

"And how did I never know about this?" Suki questioned, much calmer now.

"Well I didn't really tell anyone, and when Hahn tried to brag about it either nobody believed him or Sokka threatened him." Katara explained.

"Well I definitely wouldn't believe it." Suki joked with a chuckle.

"Shut up!" Katara laughed.

"Well, you can redeem yourself with Zuko." Suki teased with a wink. Katara covered her face with her hands.

"And now we've come full circle." Katara mumbled through her hands to Suki's great amusement. Luckily they only had a few minutes before they got back to Katara's house, she could escape this topic when they got there.

* * *

Suki put the car in park still laughing at Katara's embarrassment. She has seen Sokka's Jeep in Gran Gran's parking lot and decided to visit her boyfriend instead of just dropping Katara off. She was also still regaining her composure from the revelation of who Katara's first kiss was. Hahn was such a dick, and he had been a source of great annoyance for her boyfriend as well. Sokka's girlfriend from freshman year, Yue, had cheated on him with Hahn and subsequently left Sokka for Hahn. She found herself not minding it more lately since it freed up Sokka for her, but she still didn't like the idea of somebody hurting her man. Also he was just unpleasant to be around, he always went on about his abilities on the ice and flirting with anything that moved. She was sure Yue had been cheated on multiple times by Hahn, but that was karma for you, she thought. But this past week Hahn had been made to look like an amateur by Zuko in practice, score another point for Zuko in her book. The girls entered the house to hear screams and groans from upstairs, Suki exchanged a glance with Katara and they both hurried up the steps. They crept down the hallway to the source of the sound, Sokka's room. They peered through the door to see two boys playing videogames. Sokka and Zuko were perched on the end of the bed, each gripping a controller. They were leaning into each other, trying to shove the other while not releasing the death grip on the controller. Accompanying the physical attempts at throwing the opponent off their game was a barrage of verbal insults. Something about the NY Rangers and the Buffalo Sabers, she looked to the screen to see what else, but a hockey game. Suki rolled her eyes and heard Katara give a sigh of frustration. Then Sokka took one hand off his controller to try and interfere with Zuko's hands, causing Zuko to mess up on screen. Zuko responded by standing up and shoving Sokka off the bed to the floor and then after a flash off button mashing he raised his hands in triumph as he had scored.

"Hey no fair! You cheated!" came a screaming protest from the floor. Zuko brought his hands down to his hips, standing over Sokka.

"And what would you call trying to mess with my controller?" He yelled incredulously

"Goon!"

"Hack!"

"City boy!"

"Country rube!" Suki was sure it was going to come to blows, she put her hands to her face, she could feel Katara tense up next to her. Then she gasped as Katara bolted into the room, tackling Zuko. He yelped loudly in surprise. And they landed on the bed, him face down on his stomach, and Katara straddling his back and slapping him in the back of the head.

"What the Fuck!" Zuko screamed, trying to cover his head with his hands.

"Katara! What the hell are you doing!" Sokka yelled jumping to his feet. Katara immediately stopped and stared at him.

"You two were going to fight and he was on top of you and he was, and you!" Katara was yelling and not making very much sense, Sokka's face went from sheer horror to a broad grin, then to hysterical laughter, and he was back on the floor doubled over holding his sides.

"Over a video game?" Came Sokka's reply through large bouts of laughter. Katara's face was as red as Suki had ever seen it.

"And he called you a Country Rube!" Katara yelled, trying to defend her actions. Sokka just laughed louder. Suki couldn't suppress her giggles, she had also made the same rash decision as Katara did on the situation. But now looking back on the last few minutes she had seen how silly it was to think they were actually going to fight.

"Oh, man Zuko your face when she jumped you!" Sokka said sitting up on the floor, in tears now from laughing so hard. Suki walked into the room and sat on her boyfriends lap. "Hey babe." He greeted her and then kissed her.

"Hi," Suki replied after breaking the kiss, "You miss me today?"

"Of course." Sokka answered, wrapping his arms around her. "You guys have fun at the mall?"

"Yup, got lots of stuff." She leaned in and whispered to him, "from Victoria's Secret." She said deviously. "You want me to model it for you?"

"Definitely." He whispered back and went in for another kiss when a loud throat clearing caught their attention. They looked to the bed to see Katara still on top of Zuko who had turned his face to look at Sokka and Suki. Katara was continuing to look very embarrassed but had not moved a muscle.

"Hey Zuko." Suki greeted smiling as if nothing was out of place.

"Hey Suki." He greeted in return, then he moved his eyes to try and see the girl on his back. "So?," He began "how much for a happy ending after this massage?" He asked in a very cocky tone, Suki laughed and Sokka seemed to be deciding whether to laugh or berate Zuko for making a joke of that nature about his little sister. The joke however snapped Katara out of whatever trance she was in, she gave a disgusted grunt and leapt of Zuko. She then kicked him in the ribs and he fell off the bed in front on Sokka and Suki with a loud grunt.

"Unbelievable!" Katara screamed. Zuko groaned and rolled over facing Sokka and Suki.

"Is your sister always this insane and violent?" Zuko grinned as he asked, definitely making sure he was loud enough for Katara to hear him. Sokka snickered and Suki covered her mouth to try and suppress her giggles. She then looked to Katara still sitting on the bed. She was visibly furious, scowl on her face and her fists clenched.

"You, You , You!" was all she could seem to muster.

"She defiantly has a way with words" Zuko said as he sat up facing the couple and ignoring Katara.

"Well, you know, it's a family trait." Suki smiled and patted Sokka on the chest. Zuko laughed heartily.

"Hey!" Sokka replied in a mock hurt tone.

"Aw, poor baby." Suki said turning her attention to her boyfriend, and giving him a quick kiss. "All better?" She asked as if asking a small child.

"I guess." He trailed off as if seriously thinking on it before he broke into a smile.

"Uh, Hello?" All three sitting on the floor turned to a seething Katara on the bed. "Having fun are we?" she yelled. Suki sighed and rested her chin in her hand while Sokka gave an apologetic smile while rubbing the back of his neck. Zuko's look was just annoyed.

"I was until I was viciously attacked by a psycho." He said to Katara. Suki saw a new flash of rage in Katara's face.

"I'll show you psycho!" She screamed and lunged off the bed towards him. In a split second, and without any effort it looked to Suki, Zuko grabbed her wrists, swung her around, and placed Katara in his lap restraining her and facing back towards Sokka and Suki. For a moment everyone but Zuko seemed to be in shock. If you had walked in just then it would just look like two couples sitting together having a conversation or something. Then Katara began to writhe frantically. After a second or two Zuko released her. She stood up faced him and promptly kicked him in the chest. Zuko doubled over.

"Bitch!" He gasped out, clearly getting the wind knocked out of him.

"Stupid spoilt rich ass!" Katara spat back and stormed out of the room, Zuko sprung up to chase after her. Sokka and Suki scrambled to their feet, and Suki grabbed Zuko's hand. He halted immediately and turned to Suki.

"Lets everyone just calm down." Suki said in an even tone looking into Zuko's eyes. She could feel the tenseness in him loosen and he took a deep breath. Suki then turned to Sokka, "why don't you go to Zuko's so us girls can get ready for Haru's."

"The party isn't for hours." Sokka began, he then saw the look in Suki's eye, "Well, I need to get ready too." Sokka said lamely.

"Take some clothes to Zuko's and get ready there." She said, then turned to Zuko, "That ok, right." It wasn't a question, and Zuko understood that right away. Suki then turned back to her boyfriend, he seemed resigned to go. "Ok then." She let go of Zuko and brushed past him out the door and after Katara.

* * *

Sokka just stood there, watching his girlfriend leave the room and then looked to Zuko. He was looking down at the floor, an ashamed look gracing his features. Sokka sighed rubbed the back of his neck. Then went about his room picking up a t-shirt and a pair of jeans, threw them into a backpack and turned to Zuko.

"Ready?" Sokka questioned trying to inject an upbeat attitude into the dreary situation. Zuko rounded out of his trance.

"Uh, yeah." Came his simple response. They exited his room, went down the stairs and out of the house. As they strolled silently to his Jeep Zuko spoke. "Sorry, I shouldn't have acted like that, or spoke to your sister like that." Sokka stared at him a bit and decided it was a genuine apology. Zuko showed some character, and Sokka liked that. Then waved his hand as if he was shooing away a fly.

"No biggie," He began, "she was a little out of control too." Zuko looked appreciative that Sokka accepted his apology. "Let's just get out of here, Suki will take care of Katara, and you can apologize to her at Haru's tonight."

"Cool" came Zuko's reply as they hopped in the Jeep and Sokka sped off to Zuko's place.

* * *

Katara slumped down on to her bed and tried not to cry. She heard some muffled voices from Sokka's room and then somebody coming down the hall, her stomach tightened, what if it was Zuko? It wasn't, Suki came into the room with a worried look. She quietly shut the door and sat on the bed with Katara. Katara then heard two sets of feet go down the stairs and out the door. Her eyes welled up, they were leaving because of her. Suki seemed to read Katara's thoughts because she quickly waived her hands as if to disperse the thoughts Katara was having.

"I sent them away." Suki hurriedly explained and Katara exhaled a breath she didn't know she was holding. "I said we needed to get ready for Haru's tonight." Suki continued. Katara sighed and leaned aback against her headboard.

"I just made a total fool of myself didn't I?" She asked sounding very morose, Suki flopped backwards on to the bed and gave an exasperated sigh.

"Yeah, you kind of did." Suki chuckled, obviously trying to lighten the mood. Katara grabbed a pillow and shoved her face into it. "You going to smother yourself?" Suki joked. Katara let out a weak laugh.

"Damn him," She said bringing her head up and making eye contact with Suki. "He just gets under my skin, like in the locker room the first day he was here, he just acts like a cocky jerk." Then she smiled softly and rested her chin on the pillow she was still clutching. "And then when it's just me and him, he acts, so, so." Katara blushed and buried her head back into the pillow.

"Excuse me?" Suki propped herself on to her elbows. "He does what when you're alone?" She asked with an eager smile. Katara half screamed half giggled into the pillow, then brought herself back up again.

"He's all nice and wistful and mysterious, and, and, uhg!" She exhaled and slouched back, looking up to the ceiling. She was about to try and explain herself better when Suki interrupted.

"You totally want to have his babies!" She squealed, loudly. Katara looked horrified.

"Shut up!" she screamed and threw her pillow ant Suki. Suki laughed even louder and rolled over with the pillow, propping herself up with it. "I totally ruined it today though," Katara continued quietly.

"Well he was taking it pretty well until you jumped at him and then kicked him in the chest." Suki said offhandedly while chewing on her hair.

"Taking it well?" Katara exclaimed, "Did you hear that joke he said?" Her pitch got higher. "He was being a total dick! Just like before!" Suki sighed and blew the hair from her mouth.

"Well, he seems to only act like that when you verbally or physically attack him." Suki stated, and Katara had no comeback for that one. Suki seeing Katara wasn't going to interject continued, "Maybe if you just took it down a notch it would be more like the 'other times when you two were alone' you were gushing about." Katara made a face and crossed her arms. "Or you two could just keep having epic battles for everyone else's amusement." Katara broke into a smile, Suki's lame joke did the trick and the tension in the room lifted.

"Well, lets get ready then." Katara stood up and went out into the hallway to get the bags they had left there before this whole fiasco started. When she was walking back to her room she saw from the tom of the stairs Toph come into the house holding a bag. "Hey Toph?" Katara half greeted, half questioned. She then saw how nervous and shifty Toph looked. Suki came up next to Katara also looking down at Toph quizzically.

"Thought you didn't want to get all girly with us today? The Boulder had a match right?" Suki asked , Toph's face momentarily lit up.

"Yeah he won, huge knockout!" Then she darkened again. "I need to talk to you guys." Katara and Suki shared a worried glance.

* * *

As they pulled up to his Uncles house Zuko saw somebody pacing in the front yard. It was Aang, in a t-shirt walking around in the snow. Zuko looked to Sokka who had an equally puzzled look. They parked and jumped out of the car.

"What the hell Aang!" Sokka shouted. They ran over to him, and he was mumbling to himself. "You do understand it's like 30 degrees out right?" Sokka berated Aang.

"I left my jacket at Toph's." Aang stated simply.

"Uh, did you not notice it was cold when you left her house?" Zuko asked.

"Yeah, but there was no way I was going back into that house to get it." Aang said, sounding as if Toph's house was haunted or something. He then looked to Zuko,  
"can we go inside please?" Zuko led the other two boys inside.

"So why would you not go back into Toph's to get you're jacket before walking over here?" Sokka began questioning Aang once they settled into Zuko's room. Zuko had given the shivering Aang a hoody.

"Well, we were watching the Sabers game waiting for The Boulders match, and then Toph attacked me." Zuko and Sokka looked to each other, obviously remembering Zuko and Katara's recent spat. Aang went on, "Then she pinned me," Aang buried his face in his hands. "Then she was bouncing up and down on me after I submitted," Zuko looked back to Sokka, and was glad to see that he looked as confused as Zuko felt. Zuko looked back to Aang, he had brought his hands down to reveal a horrified face. "And she was bouncing, and, and…"

* * *

"He what!" Katara screamed, she had to have something crazy in her ears, because what she heard Toph say was insane.

"He popped a boner!" Toph screamed, throwing her arms over her head and flopping backwards on to Katara's bed. Katara horrified, looked to Suki. Suki was struggling to hold back fits of laughter. Katara rolled her eyes and elbowed Suki in the ribs. Suki gave an apologetic look and walked over and sat next to Toph on the bed.

"Well, Toph, when a girl bounces up and down on a boys lap," Suki began slowly. "It's bound to cause a reaction." She said weakly. Suki looked to Katara for help. Katara had no idea what to say, she had never experienced what Toph had, she had never even sat in a boys lap. She gave an unsure shrug and Suki rolled her eyes, returning her attention to the traumatized Toph. "Um, well, how did you feel about it?" Suki asked. Toph sat back up.

"I, well, I don't know." Katara listened intently. "I think I liked that I could do that to him, because, then well, he likes me right?" Katara's breath caught in her throat. Did Toph wanting to have Aang like her, mean she liked Aang?

"Um, well, for a boy to do that, to have that type of physical, thing" Suki was obviously trying to explain what happened without saying boner. "It's much more physical than emotional," Katara was going to kill herself if Suki started talking about her brothers, 'thing'. "Wait?" Suki stopped her meandering train of thought, "Do you like Aang?" Katara had never seen Toph look embarrassed, ever. She had always gone with the flow, spoken her mind, and been unflappable. But right this moment Toph was beet red and breathing sporadically.

"Shut up Suki!" Toph screamed, and that confirmed it. Toph liked Aang, and Katara was shocked. Katara knew that Toph and Aang had grown closer when she had moved on to high school and they had been alone in middle school. But Toph having romantic feelings for Aang had never crossed her mind. Katara was also bothered by something else. Did she want Toph to have feelings for Aang? Before, when Aang, Toph and Katara went to middle school together, Aang and Katara were the closest. When she had went to South Point High, she began to hang out with Suki more and saw less of Aang. Now she was feeling as if Toph had somehow stolen Aang from her, and it was confusing. Wait did she like Aang? They spent a lot of time together growing up, they knew everything about each other, and she always kind of knew he had a crush on her. Suki spoke again pulling Katara from her thoughts.

"Well, what happened after?" Suki questioned Toph.

"We watched the fight in silence and he left." Toph answered morosely. Suki sighed and put her arm around the younger girl.

"Well, we'll spend the rest of the afternoon making you look drop dead gorgeous, and when you see Aang at Haru's he'll pop another one just looking at you!" Suki laughed, Toph blanched and Katara felt herself grow extremely annoyed at Suki.

* * *

"Um? Well? Uh?" Sokka was having trouble forming words after Aang told the story of what happened at Toph's house. He looked to Zuko, and found Zuko's neutral expression annoying. Then Zuko spoke.

"Do you like her?" Zuko asked. Aang scratched his scalp through his buzz cut.

"I don't know, maybe?" Sokka saw in Aang's eyes he was working the question out in his mind. "It's complicated." Zuko sighed.

"Not really," Zuko stated, "If you like her just go out with her." Sokka scoffed, as if it was easy as that.

"You don't understand Zuko," Sokka said knowingly. "Aang and Toph have known each other forever, it would be weird."

"I've known my girlfriend since I was five." Zuko stated simply. Sokka's jaw dropped, and he looked to Aang to see him looking equally surprised.

"You have a girlfriend?" Sokka exclaimed. Zuko gave a nervous smile and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Well actually, right before I moved up here, we kind of had a big fight, so maybe I should have said ex-girlfriend." He gave a nervous laugh and Sokka replaced his shocked look with a sympathetic one. "But we'd known each other for a long time and it actually helped with the relationship, there wasn't the awkward getting to know each other period." Zuko added on, apparently trying to lighten the mood.

"Well, we have grown closer." Aang began to muse to himself, "maybe…"

"What about Katara?" Sokka blurted out. Aang shot him a 'shut the fuck up' look, and Zuko shot him a 'what the fuck are you talking about look. Sokka chose to answer Zuko's look and avoid Aang's.

"Aang has had a crush on Katara since the beginning of time." Sokka stated, and even though he wasn't looking at Aang, he could feel the killer intent radiating from the small boy. Zuko turned to Aang.

"Do you think you have a shot with Katara, or do you think you've moved on to Toph?" Zuko asked, Sokka though he heard a bit of anxiousness in Zuko's voice. Aang groaned and slammed his head into Zuko's desk. Sokka took that as an 'I have no fucking idea.'


	7. Chapter 7

Well, here is the party, (you know the one i promised the last chapter would be about?) well it technically was part of the last chapter, then i split them up, never mind, Read and review please! Enjoy!

* * *

Haru's house was already packed when Zuko showed up with Sokka and Aang. Zuko, it seemed, was still the flavor of the week. So, when he walked in he was instantly swarmed by all the people not on the team. A week with the team had made him just one of the guys to them. But spending all of his free time with Sokka and the others had kept him a mystery to the general population of what would be his high school on Monday. His new teammates laughed as he was dragged away, Zuko tossed his coat to Sokka asking him to take care of it. Zuko knew was going to need lots of alcohol to get through the thousands of questions he was inevitably going to be asked by the people he didn't know yet. With a heavy sigh, Zuko allowed himself to be taken to one of the couches in what seemed to be Haru's living room and began to be berated by the inquisitive strangers.

"I heard you were from New York City? Is that true?"

"Yea-"

"How long have you played hockey?"

"Well, abou-"

"Why do you only hang out with Sokka?"

"I don't kno-"

"What happened with Katara in the locker room?"

"Uh-"

"Is you're Uncle the tea shop guy?"

"Ye-"

"Why did you move here?"

"I, um-"

"Hey, Zuko!" Came a new voice from just outside the ring of questioners. He then saw the girl that worked in Uncle's tea shop force her way into the middle and then she grabbed his wrist and led him away to the complaints of the throng of strangers. They made their way to the kitchen where people were mixing drinks, he gave a nod to Sokka and Suki who were among them.

"Thanks for the save, uh, Jin right?" Zuko said once she stopped pulling him.

"No problem." She replied with a cheery smile. She was very cute out of her Jasmine Dragon uniform, she had on a pair of low rider jeans and a tight green t-shirt that showed off her, um, ample assets. Zuko found himself starring at her exposed midriff when he remembered he owed her an apology. Zuko hadn't seen her since his first day in South Point and hadn't gotten the chance to talk to her since Sokka and Aang had dragged him off.

"Oh, by the way, sorry for running out on you that day." Zuko's eyes shot from her body to her face, he could tell she had noticed where he was looking. Instead of berating him for his wandering eyes, she simply gave him another smile, a very flirtatious one.

"No biggie," she began while turning to the counter, choosing ingredients for a drink. "It was Sokka's fault." She said turning to Sokka and Suki who were a few feet from them.

"Its wasss myyy dutttyyy as the captainnnn tooo recruitttt himmm" Came Sokka's slurred defense, "Heh, I saiddd dutyyy." Suki just giggled and leaned into her boyfriend's chest.

"How are you drunk already?" Zuko chided him. "We've been her for like 10 minutes!" Suki giggled even louder.

"Well, I've been here for an hour and he decided to try and catch up." She explained seeming a little tipsy, but not nearly as gone as Sokka. "He chugged half a handle of something, and bam, it looks like I'll be babysitting tonight." Zuko just shook his head and ran his fingers through his hair, very amused at the state of his friend. Jin sighed and turned back to Zuko.

"Well, you owe me two now." She said, "One for bailing on the Dragon, and two for saving you back there." She gestured in the general area of the living room. Zuko smiled and looked over his shoulder to where she had just dragged him from, then looked back to Jin.

"I thought the Jasmine Dragon incident was Sokka's fault?" He teased, she laughed and then put her finger to her chin pretending to seriously ponder what he said.

"Well, having South Points new star player owe you one is better than none." She said, running her tongue over her lips and turning back to her drink making operation. Zuko was left a little hypnotized by the movement of her tongue and then quickly snapped out of it. Was she flirting with him? He looked around nervously, like there was something in this room of strangers and one completely drunk friend running his hands over his girlfriend that could help him with his situation. "Here," Jin's voice brought his attention back to her. "It's just a Jack and Coke." She said offhandedly, and walked past him. He absent mindedly followed her, taking a swig of his drink.

* * *

Katara had been making idle conversation with Toph and some other girls from school since she had arrived at Haru's. She had, much to Suki's amusement, worn the red shirt she had bought that day. Now she was playing with the rim of her cup and searching the crowd for the boy she had bought it to impress, and owed an apology to. All afternoon while doing their hair, makeup and choosing outfits Suki had endlessly questioned her and Toph about their respective boy troubles. Katara scoffed looking into her drink, Suki had it so easy with Sokka. Her brother constantly fawned over her and did whatever she asked. Katara had spent her whole life having boys chased away by Sokka. And when they did get past her brother at parties, all they talked about was finding a bedroom somewhere.

"Hey!" came Suki's voice as she walked over to Katara's group. "What are you ladies doing over here being wallflowers? You have to get out there." Suki pointed her thumb over her shoulder towards the area where everyone was dancing.

"I don't think Sokka would appreciate you dancing with other guys." Toph shot at Suki, Toph was obviously not in the mood to dance. Suki laughed.

"Well, maybe he should have been here an hour ago when he said he would." She was about to continue when to large tanned arms wrapped around her waist and lifted her into the air as Suki squealed with delight.

"Sorry babe," came Sokka's voice as he put Suki down and kissed her. "We kind of lost track of time." He continued after breaking the kiss. Katara then saw Aang nervously standing behind Sokka. Aang caught her stare and smiled.

"Hi Katara," Aang greeted, then he looked to Toph, and instantly looked to the ceiling rubbing his neck. "Uh, hi Toph." He stammered out.

"Hey" Toph replied, sounding equally uncomfortable. Sokka obviously knew what both Suki and Katara knew about Toph and Aang's situation, because all five of them were as quiet as could be. The other girls that Katara and Toph were originally chatting with must have picked up on the awkwardness, as they slinked away to continue their conversation elsewhere. Katara decided to break the weird silence.

"Uh, where is Zuko?" She asked her brother. Suki turned to her and gave an accusing smile. Sokka looked towards the front door and back to Katara.

"We lost him back there," Sokka gestured to where he was just looking. "His adoring fans whisked him away." Sokka joked. Katara huffed, Zuko didn't like the attention, and didn't they see what she saw that day when she dragged him away from the people pestering him on the street.

"Better go rescue him again" Suki said with a wink then she and Sokka made their way off somewhere. She looked to Toph then nodded at Aang and Katara was off to find Zuko. As she made her way towards the big crowd in the living room that was most likely surrounding Zuko when she saw Jin emerge from the group with Zuko in tow. They were holding hands and making their way to the kitchen. She watched from across the room as they talked with Sokka and Suki, and then they said something to each other. Then Jin licked her lips and Zuko, Katara's eyes were instantly bugging out of her head. What the hell was that? What was Jin doing flirting with him? She barely knew him? Katara watched Jin then hand Zuko a drink and they walked off together. Katara looked back to where Toph and Aang were, they were gone. Just great, Katara thought, alone.

* * *

It was a few hours after Sokka had chugged the handle of Captain before he was starting to regain cognitive ability. He found himself lying on a couch with his head in Suki's lap. She was stroking his hair, which felt amazing, and was talking to Katara. Katara was sitting in a chair perpendicular from them, she was looking very drunk, and very distressed.

"And they just walked off, hiccup, and I haven't seen them since." Katara finished, Suki sighed.

"Yes Katara, I know," She said sounding exasperated, "I was there, and that's about the hundredth time you've told me about it too."

"I mean, what's his deal!" Katara went on seemingly ignoring Suki's comment. "Does he just go off and flirt with any girl that saves him from a group of people?" Suki looked down to Sokka and noticed he was coming around.

"Hey baby, feeling better?" Suki asked him, clearly trying to have the conversation take a new turn.

"Yeah, but I can't really remember feeling anything before a few minutes ago" he groaned. Suki laughed, and Sokka felt good his joke made her laugh. It was one of the few things he was good at, being able to make Suki laugh.

"Well, I'm sure there will be plenty of pictures of your exploits for you to see tomorrow." Katara stated, then she finished off whatever was in her cup. Sokka looked back up to Suki, she was wearing a nervous smile.

"What did I do?" There was a hint of panic in Sokka's voice.

"Well, you began to give random people lap dances, then you started getting a little 'friendly' with some of the girls on the dance floor, then you're pants were inside out for some reason." Sokka looked down at his legs to see his pants were indeed inside out. Suki went on, "You challenged a lot of people to a lot of dinking games, and then I had to drag you upstairs to a bedroom to work some of your energy off."

"Didn't need to know that last part." Katara said, throwing her empty cup at Suki who laughed deflecting it away.

"Oh man," Sokka put his hands over his face and moaned like a zombie. "I got some and I don't even remember it!" He exclaimed, Suki patted him on the forehead like a puppy.

"Aw, poor baby." Suki said to him as if she was comforting a small child. Katara made a gagging noise. Then Zuko walked over, face flushed, rubbing his arms, looking like he was trying to get warm. He sat down on the floor in front of Katara's chair and rested his cheek on her thigh.

"You're warm." Was all he said as he closed his eyes and seemed to go to sleep. Katara was looking very shocked and Suki was busting up laughing.

"Would you like to explain what your doing?" Sokka said sitting up quickly, he then found sitting up to be a very poor idea. He was still no where near sober and the rush of blood from his head made him immediately place his head back down on Suki's lap. Zuko opened his eyes and looked and Sokka.

"Jin and I went to the garage and played beer pong." He began, "but the garage is cold so the more we won the more cold I got and Haru was explaining something about beer pong being messy and so we had to keep playing in the garage and Jin was good so we kept winning and then I was really cold because I gave you my jacket and so now I'm inside and Haru is playing with Jin because I'm cold." Sokka chuckled at Zuko's rambling story, Zuko was much more drunk than Sokka.

"Why, you, my thigh?" Katara exclaimed at Zuko. Zuko looked up at the owner of the leg he was currently using as a pillow.

"It's a very nice thigh." Zuko simply stated, as if he was commenting on the weather. Suki was in full hysterics now and Sokka couldn't help laugh at Katara's reaction. His sister's face was one of shock and horror. Somewhere in the back of Sokka's mind he knew he should be making a big deal about a guy making a pass at his sister, but he was tired, tipsy, and Suki stroking his hair felt too good to make a fuss about anything.

* * *

Toph stared at Katara's retreating back in horror. She was leaving her by herself with Aang. Toph was not one to scare easily, she had taken on all challengers her whole life. From the boys that tried to bully her in grade school, to when she had to finally tell her parents to stop babying her when she entered high school at the end of last summer. Toph had always fought, and more times than not she won. But right now, in this extremely awkward scenario, she couldn't muster up her fighting spirit.

"So, what's up?" Aang offered weakly, but at least he was talking to her Toph thought. He gave that toothy grin of his and suddenly Toph was upset that Aang was having an easier time at this than her. The fighter in her came boiling out, she grabbed his hand and dragged him off. "Whoa, where are we going Toph?" Aang asked as she pulled him past the other party goers. Toph didn't really know how to answer his question, well, she couldn't answer it because she didn't know where they were going. She then saw out of the corner of her eye the staircase and made for it. The rooms upstairs would be a private place to talk, and it was way too early in the night for them to be occupied by couples. She pulled him into the first room she came across and shut the door.

"Look Aang," He was scared, she could see it in his face. He was like a cornered animal, and she was blocking the only exit. "This afternoon," Toph continued, and Aang's face went pale. "It's ok." She gathered from his expression that Aang was definitely not expecting her to say that.

"I'm so sorry Toph!" he began to go into some long winded apology, Toph just folded her arms over her chest. It didn't seem like he was going to finish any time soon so she just sat herself on the bed. It must have been a guest bedroom, there were no distinguishing characteristics to it. Plain bed, plain dresser, plain art on the walls. Toph had been over to Haru's many times before. His Father worked for her parents mining company, something about geology. So her family was invited to diner parties here and Toph would be dragged along. Each time though Haru had saved her from the adults and they would spend the hours in his room playing video games or something. He was a quiet guy, but would listen to her complain about everything. It had become somewhat of an older brother little sister relationship. He looked out for her at school too, not that she needed protection. But it was nice to know it was there. Aang had come to the end of his speech that Toph had tuned out.

"It's ok." She repeated. "I talked it out with the girls and-"

"You told Katara?" Aang was in a panicked state now. Toph would have found it funny if she didn't know why he was freaking out. Jealousy flared in the pit of her stomach, Aang was head over heals for Katara.

"You told the guys!" Toph accused, from the way Sokka acted downstairs she knew that he knew what had happened. "Sorry I let your precious Katara know you had a dick." She added, Aang was now as pale as a ghost.

"She's not my, she's just, you!" Aang sputtered, Toph smirked at his inability to muster a comeback. Then he took a claming breath, and began again. "That was a schoolboy crush," Aang started, Toph was impressed at his mature demeanor. "She doesn't have the same interests as me anymore, she doesn't get who I am anymore, she left for high school and I was left with you, and me, you and me," he was sputtering again. Toph's anger flared again.

"So I'm your silver medal?" She screamed, she was really angry now. He just basically told her that Katara had moved on, grown up, and all he was left with was her. She stood up, and made for the door. Then felt Aang grasp her elbow, and whip her around to face him. Then his lips were on hers, and she was in shock. Aang was kissing her! What was going on! He backed away and looked into her eyes.

"I want you." Aang stated simply. Toph was beside herself. He wanted her. Not Katara. Katara was more beautiful, a better student, kinder, gentler, had big boobs. She had everything Toph didn't, but Toph had Aang. She pounced, he landed on the bed, and she landed on top of him. They resumed the kiss, it was rushed and awkward, and both their first experience with anything like this. She felt him get hard, and it pressed into her inner thigh. She wasn't ready to do anything besides make out tonight, but it was satisfying for her to know she could make him react like that.

* * *

Zuko was dreamily resting against Katara leg, blissfully unaware of his surroundings. Suki and Sokka's laughs were miles away, and he was far too drunk to see anything wrong with his actions. Then his warm pillow was moving, and he was sad.

"What the hell!" Katara was somehow more drunk than he was, and she was much more angry than he was. Wait why would he be angry? Oh, right because she had been a good pillow and moved. He would now be angry, this seemed like sound logic to his inebriated mind. He shot to his feet, well tried to, and ended up stumbling into somebody then stood up and stumbled back in front of Katara.

"Why move you?" He questioned, trying to look imposing. Suki and Sokka were now laughing to the point where they couldn't breathe. "I was comfortable, and you go and move." Zuko said, making sure his point was clear.

"You just can't do as you please!" Katara was angry, Zuko could see it in her eyes. Well, he could see it in her eyes if he was looking in her eyes. He was currently staring at her chest, the three small buttons on her shirt were un-done and he could see quite a bit of cleavage. "Hello? My eyes are up here!" Zuko's gaze came back to her face. She was more angry than she was this afternoon, when he made that crass joke. Oh yeah, he needed to say sorry for that. He stood up as straight as possible, puffed out his chest, and spoke so he wouldn't slur.

"I apologize for my actions this afternoon." He stated rather regally. Katara's expression dropped from full blown anger to a mild annoyance. She turned her face away from him and gave him a sideways glance.

"I also apologize." By now the whole room had filled with spectators. They were whispering and laughing to each other. Jin was in the front of the crowd, and was looking at him with an eyebrow raised.

"Hi Jin!" He greeted, "My pillow and I were just having a fight." He laughed, "Pillow fight," he mumbled to himself, the whole room erupted in laughter. Jin looked from him to Katara, they gave each other very hostile smiles.

"I was wondering if you wanted to talk some more, like we had all night so far." Jin said to Zuko, but did not break her and Katara's stare down.

"That's ok." Zuko replied with a smile. Jin's eyes shot to him. Zuko reached over and pushed down on Katara's shoulder until she was sitting in the chair again. He then sat back down on the floor and placed his very heavy head back on her thigh, and closed his eyes.

* * *

Aang and Toph were pushing through the very crowded room hand in hand. They had spent a long time just talking in the bedroom after their make out session. Then a senior couple burst in and kicked them out. Toph had pointed out a commotion in the living room when they reached the bottom of the stairs. Then they had both heard Katara yelling at somebody. By the time they reached the center of the room everyone was shuffling back to what they were doing before all the excitement. Then they came upon Suki with Sokka's head in her lap on the couch and Katara in a chair with Zuko sitting at her feet with his head against her leg. Katara was giving a very triumphant smile and glare to a girl standing by them. Aang recognized her as the girl that worked at The Jasmine Dragon, Jin was her name.

"What just happened?" Toph asked glancing from one couple to the other and then to Jin. Sokka laughed.

"Those two had round two for the day." Sokka informed, pointing at his sister and Zuko. Katara blushed looked down at Zuko, but didn't say anything. Zuko opened his eyes and looked at Aang.

"Yo, Aang." He said cheerfully, Aang could see he was definitely drunk. Then Aang saw Zuko look to Toph and His interlocked hands. "Way to go Aang!" Zuko exclaimed, but never lifting his head from Katara's leg. "You get some?" Zuko winked to Aang, he felt Toph's grip tighten. He had no idea what to do, all his friends were gawking at him, as well as everyone still in the room.

"Yes, he did." Aang's head snapped around to look at Toph so fast he was afraid he broke his neck. Well, it seemed like Toph wasn't going to dance around the issue. Toph backed up her statement a confident stare at Zuko, she got a thumbs up in return. She huffed loudly, clearly amused by the drunken Zuko's antics, but not willing to show it. She then dragged Aang over to the couch and pushed Sokka's legs to the floor. Sokka gave a groan but sat up and placed his arm around Suki's shoulders. Toph sat down and Aang followed. He then noticed Jin had walked off, and then noticed Katara absent mindedly stroking Zuko's hair while she talked with Toph and Suki. He could feel himself grow jealous of Zuko, but it was instantly quelled when Toph placed his arm around her shoulders and rested her head in the crook of his neck as she continued to talk to the other girls. He contently let himself sink into the couch.

* * *

Ok, how was that? We're finally going to school next time! Wait, school sucks, uhg...


	8. Chapter 8

Hooray for the worst part of the party experience, the awkward morning after. A little short, promise the next chapter will be longer. Enjoy!

* * *

Katara was a late riser. It was one of the few traits that she had in common with her brother. Neither she nor Sokka would be seen conscious before noon if they could help it. They were night owls, up until all hours. Katara would read or do homework, and Sokka would play video games or channel surf. But no matter what they were doing they were doing it in the same room, they would stick together, ever since their mother got sick. Their father would go to sleep early since he needed to be up early to perform his duties as Sheriff. Gran would also turn in early, having to open the diner for the breakfast rush. So they were left to their own devices from about 9:00pm until whenever they ended up relenting to their need for sleep. This particular morning, Katara also found herself with a hangover compounding with her inability to function in the morning. So when her pillow began to fidget, instead of being shocked, or even confused, she was annoyed. Why in the hell would her pillow do this to her? She wanted nothing more than to sleep. She began to try and wrangle her rebellious pillow without lifting her head or opening her eyes, and found it had ribs.

Now her brain was slowly starting to work. Her cognitive functions were beginning to come back to her. She was noticing things that were oblivious to her only seconds before. The pillow was slowly moving up and down. The pillow was snoring lightly. The pillow was warm. The pillow had a heartbeat. Adrenaline was now coursing through her veins. Katara's eyes flew open and she tried to push herself up. She was now on all fours hovering above her pillow. The pillow had turned out to be one Zuko Kuzon.

Katara was now in shock, she couldn't move. She noticed she was not in her room, but in the living room on the sofa. Katara then looked down at herself and saw she was not naked, then looked down at the sleeping Zuko and saw he too was not naked. She couldn't decide if she was relieved or disappointed by the lack of nakedness. Katara then tried to piece together the events of the night before. They had been at Haru's, she fought with Zuko, they hung out in Haru's living room, then, then, after that, they began to drink and dance again? Then she woke up here. Great, there was a large part of last night missing and she was waking up sharing a sleeping space with Zuko. The adrenaline was draining from her now and she was quickly losing energy. Her head was hurting and the light in the room was making her eyes water. So, she decided it was better if she just lied back down. She laid back down on Zuko and rested her head back on his chest. The rhythmic up and down his chest made from breathing was soothing, he was also warm, and she was soon back asleep.

* * *

"Son?" Zuko was not feeling well. "Son?" His head was pounding, he could tell his eyes were photosensitive without opening them. "Son?" He was also being restricted, there was a weight on him. "Son?" And there was that damn voice! "Son, I think you better get up." Then there was a poke to his temple and Zuko turned his head towards the direction the poke came from and slowly opened his bleary eyes. As his vision cleared, Zuko found himself nose to nose with Hakoda, Katara and Sokka's father. The Sheriff was in full uniform, and looked a little upset. "I would like an explanation." Zuko's face must have portrayed confusion because Hakoda nodded to his chest to further explain. Zuko looked from Hakoda down to his chest, to find the top of a head, a head full of wavy brunette hair. Katara was sleeping on him. And her father was standing over him. Zuko looked back to Hakoda.

"Are you going to shoot me?" Zuko asked hopeful that the answer would be a no.

"That all depends." Well it wasn't a no, but it also wasn't a yes.

"On?" Zuko need all the information he could gather before he tried to fully answer a gun toting Sheriff.

"On how you ended up in this position, and how they ended up in that position." Hakoda pointed to another couch occupied by a spooning couple. Zuko saw it was Aang and Toph. He then looked back to Hakoda.

"Well, they are now dating." Zuko stated with a nod to the young couple blissfully unaware of the awful position Zuko was now stuck in. "And, this," He looked down to Katara's sleeping form, "this, I have no idea." He answered truthfully. "She was beating on me yesterday afternoon, then we went to Haru's, and then…well Officer it gets a little hazy after that." Hakoda's look of disappointment and anger shifted to surprise.

"She was beating on you?" The Sheriff resumed his questioning.

"Well, we were having a bit of an argument and she became rather violent." Hakoda now laughed and stood up straight, no longer hovering over Zuko. Zuko was scared.

"Her mother could get that way too." Hakoda looked at his daughter, then to Toph and Aang. He chuckled to himself and picked his hat up off the coffee table and placed it on his head. "I'll be talking to you lot later about under age drinking, and tell Sokka that Suki should make sure nobody is in the hall before sneaking out of his room and into Katara's." Zuko fought back a laugh, he then closed his eyes and placed his arm over them. He sighed heavily as he heard Hakoda walk across the room then open the door as he left. Zuko then stole a glance at Katara, she had shifted so he could see her face now. He brushed her hair behind her ear to get a better look at her face. God she was beautiful, what a morning.

* * *

Aang found that waking up to your nose buried in your girlfriends hair was not such a bad way to wake up. Toph smelled like the earth. That warm, earthy smell of soil in the summer. She smelled of freshly cut grass and the red clay that lined the rivers and ponds of South Point. The fact she smelled like this in the dead of winter, with a foot and a half of snow on the ground outside, made him love it even more. Aang had no idea where he was, and quite frankly his throbbing head kept him from caring. But breathing in Toph was quelling the hangover headache. He now burrowed into the crook of her neck, and was met with a grumble of pleasure from the girl he was holding. Toph's hand then appeared on the back of Aang's neck and pulled him further into her clavicle.

"Morning." Toph greeted.

"Morning" came Aang's muffled response. She giggled, his lips pressed into her collar must have tickled her when he spoke.

"Zuko looks like he's having fun." Toph said, with a new giggle on her lips. Aang lifted his head to look over Toph and saw Katara sleeping on top of an awake Zuko. Aang felt jealousy boil up in his gut. Zuko had only known Katara for a week, and here they were cuddled up together on the couch, sleeping together! He had known her practically his whole life, and they had never done anything near as intimate. Then Aang noticed Zuko was looking very stir crazy. He was looking around the room, trying to reach things. At the moment his goal was trying to use a magazine to get the remote control for the TV. Zuko must have been awake for a while because he was looking like he was going to lose his mind. Then Sokka stumbled down the stairs. He looked to Toph and Aang cuddled up on their couch and smiled. Then Sokka looked to the couch containing his sister and a teen that was losing his mind trying to entertain himself.

"You need some help?" Sokka asked Zuko.

"Oh god," Zuko began in a hushed voice, "I've been up for like 5 hours, you're Dad woke me up." Aang, Toph and Sokka all gasped. Zuko had come face to face with Hakoda with his daughter sleeping on him? Aang was wondering how Zuko was still alive. Sokka was the first to recover, he chuckled.

"Way to go man, how did you make it out alive?" Sokka asked.

"I don't know!" Zuko's voice began to rise, "I'm more scared about what's going to happen when she wakes up!" He continued gesturing to the girl on his chest. Toph laughed loudly, Sokka doubled-over trying to keep the volume of his laughter down, and Aang secretly hoped she would hurt Zuko when she woke. The increase in volume of the conversation must have been subconsciously bothering Katara in her sleep because she began to stir. Everyone was instantly quiet, hoping she would settle down. She slid further up Zuko and wrapped her arms around his neck, Aang could have killed him. She then nuzzled into his neck and she relaxed. Sokka and Toph breathed a sigh of relief, Aang was struggling not to leap up and freak out. Then Suki appeared behind Sokka hugging him around the mid-section. Then she spotted Katara and Zuko, and let out a squeal.

* * *

Suki stirred in Katara's bed, she was hearing voices down stairs. Suki had snuck out of Sokka's room early that morning to avoid awkward moments with Gran Gran or Hakoda. But when she entered Katara's room there was no Katara. She was far too tired and hung over to put too much thought into it at the time and promptly crashed out. Now she was much more rested and much more aware of the fact that Katara was missing, and the last thing she remembered about her last night was…oh! Suki rushed down the stairs to laughter that suddenly stopped. She then saw the back of her boyfriend and instantly buried her face into his muscular back.

Suki's relationship with Sokka began about a year ago, and Suki would be the first to admit that it began as the basic high school relationship between the hockey player and the popular girl. He had a good body and he was charming enough. So she gave him a shot at one of the obligatory parties that were thrown after every hockey game. They made out, and danced, and went a little further in a dark bedroom. And that was that, they began to go out, whatever that means. They had dinner and went to the movies and had sex. Everything a high school couple is supposed to do. Did she love him? She had no idea. But it was fun for now. She brought her face up from in between his shoulder blades and went to say good morning but something in her peripheral vision caught her attention. It was Katara sleeping on Zuko, with her arms wrapped around his neck. She let out a scream of excitement.

"What the fuck Suki!" Katara was now awake, Suki laughed, then Katara was aware of where she had been sleeping. "What the hell do you think you're doing!" Zuko looked petrified, Aang and Toph jumped to their feet to get a better look at the carnage that was about to ensue. "My arms weren't around your neck when I woke up earlier!" Silence fell over the group as Katara seemed to realize what she just said.

"You were awake?" Zuko was now the enraged one. "Why didn't you go to your room! Your Dad woke me up and it was very hard to explain you sleeping on me to him, especially since I didn't know how we got here!" Suki couldn't believe it, Hakoda had seen his little girl in the arms of a boy he barely knew and didn't haul him to jail.

"My Dad?" Katara screamed, Suki found this screaming match quite hilarious, since they hadn't moved since Katara woke up. Her arms were still around his neck, and their faces were only inches apart. "Oh my god, I'm so dead!"

"You're dead?" Zuko retorted, "You're his daughter, I thought he was going to actually kill me!"

"Oh, don't be so dramatic," Katara rolled her eyes in his face. "And how did you get me in this position to begin with!" Katara was instantly back to yelling.

"Well actually," Suki interrupted, "when Sokka and I were getting up to go upstairs, you were the one that snuggled into him and made him stretch out on the couch so you could sleep on him." Katara's jaw hung completely open. She turned back to Zuko who was letting a smirk grow on his face.

"You shut up!" Katara commanded him, the smirk grew larger. "And I don't snuggle." She finished much quieter burying her face back into his chest. Zuko chuckled mirthfully. He opened his mouth to speak, and Suki was expecting a smarmy quip but what came out was.

"Can we eat breakfast now?"

* * *

Read and Review please!


	9. Chapter 9

Wow, where the hell have I been? Sorry for the ridiculously long delay, but here is a nice long chapter for you, Enjoy!

* * *

"I know this might not comply with your big city sensibilities but would you just get on board?" Before moving to South Point Zuko would never have known blue eyes could be so fiery.

"Did you not see me destroy the windshield with the sledgehammer?" Before moving to South Point Zuko definitely knew girls could be this crazy.

"Yeah, you were so passionate about it that I could hardly stand it." And Katara was definitely being crazy at the moment. Sure Zuko hadn't exactly thrown himself into this 'rivalry' crap the whole town was going on about. He didn't understand the town plastering signs around encouraging the team to "Maul the Eagles". He definitely didn't understand why his name was on a few of them. He also thought that pep rally's where the team beat up a car painted in the opponents colors only happened in the movies. But here he was, beating up a red and gold car that he was sure didn't even run. And here he was being berated by Katara for not doing it right.

"Well I am sorry if I'm not fired up about a rivalry I know nothing about and have no real attachment to!" Zuko was tired of hearing about the fucking Cherrywood Eagles and some fucking Pick Axe. For the past two weeks Sokka and Aang, and well everyone was trying to teach him the history between the two schools and why this particular game was so important. Zuko was more concerned with the fact that Katara was avoiding him since they woke up on the couch together. Every time the group hung out she would give him the cold shoulder and talk with Toph and Suki. And it seemed hell would freeze over before she hung out with him alone. But now he seemed to have her full attention, and though he was upset she was yelling at him, at least she was talking to him.

"You don't know anything about?" Katara was getting louder now, and attracting quite a crowd, "Sokka has been telling you about it for the past two weeks!"

"How would you know?" Zuko could see confusion on Katara's face, she couldn't see where he was going with this. But he knew exactly what he was going to say, it's what he wanted to say every day she had avoided him, and he didn't care if every damn person in the school heard him say it. "You haven't spent more than a minute around me since we-". Suddenly there was a hand over his mouth. Katara had closed the gap between them almost instantly, keeping him from announcing to the whole school the predicament they woke up in a few weeks ago. Zuko couldn't see the anger in her eyes because this was the closest she had been to him since that morning, and it was intoxicating. Then he was brought out of his stupor as she promptly turned on her heal and stormed off. Zuko wasn't going to let her get away that easy, and followed her through the crowd.

"Go away!" Katara yelled without even turning around. Zuko wondered how she knew he would follow her.

"No." She stopped and he almost ran right into her back. Zuko looked around and found he had followed her into the park just behind the school. He imagined how it looked without a blanket of snow. He imagined grass and flower beds and the trees with leaves. Zuko then brought his attention back to Katara. She was still facing away from him, all he could see was the back of her head, and the mist of her breath puffing out in front of her. "I don't want you to be mad at me anymore." She slowly turned, her cheeks were pink. Whether she was blushing or if it was from the cold he didn't know. She didn't raise her gaze to meet his, but she spoke softly.

"I'm not mad at you, I'm embarrassed." She fidgeted and put her hands in her jacket pockets. Zuko looked her up and down, she wasn't the fierce empowered girl he knew. She looked her age for the first time since he met her. "I've never been like, like that with a boy." It was Zuko's turn to turn pink, he tugged at his beanie and looked away.

"We didn't do anything you know." He wasn't very good at comforting girls, in his last relationship he had been the inexperienced little boy to Mai's very mature attitude. "There isn't anything to be ashamed of."

"It may not be a big deal to you, I mean in the city you must have done all sorts of things." She cut herself off and turned a deeper shade of red. Zuko laughed, but as soon as he did he knew it was the wrong thing to do. She went from bashful to furious in the drop of a hat. Zuko quickly tried to explain.

"I'm not laughing at you." Zuko raised his hands in a defensive manner. Katara seemed to calm down a bit at this. "You just make it sound like some sort of hedonistic place," he chuckled again at what Katara must have thought about New York. "It's not that different from here, just bigger." She didn't seem to buy this and crossed her arms over her chest and raised her eyebrows as if challenging him to explain himself further. "Really, it's just another place, shops, people, schools, it's just that everybody doesn't know each other." Zuko gave a lop-sided smile, hoping he had convinced her. She sighed and moved to a bench near them. Katara brushed the snow from it and sat down. Zuko walked over to her but decided against sitting down.

"Its just all I've ever done is kiss a boy." Zuko felt a bit of jealousy rise up in him, but pushed it aside and listened as Katara continued. "And waking up on top of you was quite a shock. Then my Dad laid into me about it, and the drinking, and keeping Sokka and Suki in separate rooms in the house." Zuko and Katara shared a chuckle at the last part. "I just didn't know how to even have a conversation with you after all that. So I just avoided you, that may not have been fair, but I needed time to wrap my heap around the whole thing."

"Well I guess an argument would be how we started talking again." Zuko gave a weak chuckle at his own weak joke. Katara finally looked up at him, and gave him a small smile. "So are we ok?" Zuko gave her his best hopeful look. Katara's smile grew and Zuko knew that they were. She opened her mouth to say something else when they heard voices calling their names.

"Katara! Zuko!" Suki and Toph rounded the corner and spotted them, Katara stood up and waved them over. "Hey, we're not interrupting anything are we?" Suki began, Katara smiled and shook her head no. "OK," Suki began again, looking back and forth between Zuko and Katara with a smug smile before continuing. "Well, everyone is pretty much done smashing the car and not surprisingly Sokka wants to grab some food." Everyone laughed, Sokka's apatite was the one thing you could count on. Katara jumped up and began walking with Suki back towards the schools parking lot. Zuko just stared after them for a bit before looking down at Toph whom had yet to say anything, she was however sporting a very mischievous smile.

"What's so funny munchkin?" Zuko smiled as Toph's faded a bit, she didn't like his nick-name for her one bit. She punched him in the arm.

"Did you get some Sparky?" Zuko flushed, then shook his head and pulled Toph into a headlock with one arm and gave her a quick noogie with his free hand. "Hey!" She struggled against his grip, he let up and settled his arm around her shoulders and they began to walk towards where Katara and Suki were ahead of them.

"Been waiting since the party to get that one in weren't you?" Zuko asked and felt Toph's shoulders move up and down under his arm as she chuckled.

* * *

The South Point High School hockey team was Sokka's most favorite thing in the world. He and his father attended games all is childhood, after the games Sokka would beg his father to regale him with stories of when he was on the team in his youth. He would sit and excitedly hang on his fathers every word. Sokka had long since memorized these stories, but would still listen intently when his father told them, usually after he and Bato had a few beers in them. Sokka was now the one on the team, and though his freshman and sophomore seasons yielded little success he was confident he would have stories of his own by the time he graduated. The arrival of Aang and Zuko on the team this year enhanced their odds immensely. Sokka looked down to the 'C' on his chest and traced its outline with his index finger. He looked around the locker room and observed the rest of the team. Aang was admiring the 'A' on his jersey, if the freshman had expected to be named Assistant Captain he hid it well. The young goal scorer had looked truly shocked when Coach handed him his jersey with the 'A' sown on the chest. Sokka then looked to Zuko, who seemed very uninterested in the 'A' adorning his jersey. Zuko hadn't said a word since entering the locker room, he just methodically put on his pads and uniform. The new defensemen then sat silently with headphones on, Sokka figured everyone had their own way of preparing for a game.

It was opening day of the season, and The South Point Polar Bears were hosting the Cherrywood Eagles. Cherrywood was an equally small town situated a few miles east of South Point, and the two towns opened their seasons against each other since the beginning of time it seemed. The two town's rivalry was a serious thing around these parts. Each town populous looked forward to this game with intensity, and encouraged the two student bodies to take part in furthering the rivalry. The trophy up for grabs was the Howard/Bei Fong Pick Axe. Both towns were built on mining, the Howard family ran the mine in Cherrywood, and the Bei Fong's ran the one here in South Point. So the family's donated the Pick Axe trophy to the rivalry game in the 60's, even though Sokka didn't think either family gave two shits about the rivalry. He figured it was a public relations move, but hell it worked. Also, he wanted that trophy so bad he could taste it. The Pick Axe had been sitting in the Cherrywood High trophy case for the past 6 years, and it had become a great point of contention. Any time a Cherrywood citizen came into contact with a South Pointer the Pick Axe would eventually come up, and for the better part of a decade, anyone from Cherrywood could hold it over anyone from South Point.

Sokka had spent the past two weeks trying to explain the importance of this to Zuko but the city boy didn't seem to get it. He then tried to have Katara explain it to him, but the two of them had done their best to say as little as possible since they woke up in each others arms two weeks ago. Zuko just stared with a quizzical look on his face at the signs the towns shop owners had put up. They all had slogans about beating Cherrywood and getting the Pick Axe back. Even the big pep rally yesterday at school didn't get through to Zuko. The Student Council had an old car painted with The Eagles team colors and towed into the schools parking lot. Sokka tried to explain that they would destroy the car to pump up the team, and the fans. Zuko participated, but even as he was swinging a sledgehammer at the windshield he looked like he didn't get it. Then Katara and Zuko got into it about something and Sokka gave up on trying explaining the rivalry in favor of getting as far away from their fight as possible.

It wasn't until today, as busses and cars full of Cherrywood students and fans invaded South Point that Zuko looked like he understood. Arguments and even some fist fights broke out all over town. In the bars, in the restaurants, and even in Zuko's Uncles tea shop people from the two towns made snide remarks and threatening looks at each other.

It was now becoming increasingly loud in the locker room. The stadium above them was filling to capacity, and even with all the concrete between them and the crowd they could hear the hostilities between the opposing fans. Even Zuko was forced to take notice and turned his music off. The room was growing tense with anticipation, and Sokka figured now was as good as any time to address the team. He stood and since it was the only movement in the room all eyes turned from the shaking ceiling to him.

"I don't know about you guys," he began slowly. "But I don't plan on leaving school without that the Pick Axe in my hands." Sokka could here mutterings of agreement from among the players. "I also don't want to start off this year with a losing record." The murmurs of agreement began to grow louder. "Because this is the best damn team this town has seen in a long time!" Sokka was shouting now, and some of his teammates were rising to their feet. "I know that the better team is in this locker room!" More stood and moved closer surrounding Sokka, he allowed a cocky smirk to cross his face. "Because in this locker room I know every member of this team is willing to give everything they have for the guy next to him." Sokka put his finger in Aang's chest, "Right?" A resounding chorus of yes's answered his question. "And in that locker room over there, they don't have the guts to say the same, they don't have the heart to put everything they have on the ice!" Loud cheers of 'Yeah' and 'Damn Straight' came from the team. "So let's get out there and kick their asses!" Sokka looked around and reveled in his team's cheers, then he spotted Zuko over the heads of those encircling him. He was still sitting in his locker, but he had a huge grin on his face. Sokka grinned back a Zuko. "Well?" Sokka asked of his friend. The room's attention turned to Zuko sitting rather confidently with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Sounds good to me." Came Zuko's response and the room erupted in laughter. Sokka smiled even bigger, and Zuko stood and walked over to the rest of the team huddled in the middle of the room. Sokka raised his fist in the air and Zuko reached up and grabbed it, the rest of the team followed suit.

"Polar bears on 3! 1! 2! 3!"

* * *

Katara stood to her feet and cheered with the rest of the crowd as the South Point team came streaming out on to the ice. A few boos came from the Cherrywood section but were drowned out by the overwhelming home crowd. She searched for the boys, her Brother #7, Aang #9, and Zuko #13. They were at the head of the pack, leading the team around the ice for their warm ups. They were wearing their Blue home jerseys, so most of the team had given out their white away jerseys to their friends and family to wear to the game, the rest of the crowd wore anything white they had to give the crowd a 'white out' motif. Katara thought it quite impressive that everyone joined in on it, and the solidarity must have been intimidating to the visiting team. Katara looked to her right and somewhat jealously at Suki wearing Sokka's jersey, and on the other side of Suki Toph wore Aang's. She then looked down at her plain white shirt. Katara then wondered if anyone in the crowd was wearing Zuko's. Not that she expected him to give her his or anything, it's not like she fantasized about him handing it to her and asking her if she would wear it. Well, maybe she did fantasize about it a little bit. She sighed to herself and then got Suki's attention.

"I'm going to the snack bar, do you want anything?" Suki shook her head no, then turned to Toph to relay Katara's question.

"Nachos!" Came Toph's enthusiastic reply along with a big grin and thumbs up. Katara chuckled to herself and began to climb the stairs up to the walkway that encircled the stadium. She made her way to the line that had formed in front of the snack bar and waited for her turn. As she waited her mind went back to musing on where Zuko's jersey was, and who was wearing it. Katara found she was really bothered by this. Why couldn't he have just given it to her as a friend? She had seen lots of people wearing jerseys that were definitely not dating the player whom it belonged to. She also saw a lot of parents wearing them too, maybe his Uncle? No, he was a little, well 'large' to be wearing anything of Zuko's. What if he had given it to Jin? They had been spending time together since the party, and Katara avoiding Zuko had given him even more time to spend alone with Jin! Oh no, what if Jin was somewhere here wearing Zuko's jersey? She would definitely shove it in Katara's face if they ran into each other. Katara was so distressed by this thought she didn't hear the person running the snack bar repeatedly calling to her for her order.

"Miss! Yo! Katara?" She finally came out of her thoughts to see Bato was the one running the snack bar.

"Uncle Bato?" Now, Bato wasn't her real uncle, neither her mother or father had siblings. But he had been her Fathers best friend since they were kids, and was just always around. After her Mothers passing Bato was around the Akiak family almost all the time, trying to help his best friend out.

"Hey kiddo!" He gave her a big smile, then gestured as to what she wanted to order.

"Oh, uh just a diet coke and some nachos." He nodded and relayed the order to the person behind him. "What are you doing here?" Katara questioned him after he turned his attention back to her.

"Just trying to help out," Bato replied, then sighed and said in a lower voice. "Plus, if you work at the Sheriffs office, you seem to get drafted into this kind of stuff." Katara laughed at this. She had seen her Father and Uncle Bato doing all kinds of duties that were certainly above and beyond the call of duty. One year at the summer fair, her Father was selected to walk around the fairgrounds in a Polar Bear suit. Sokka and her never let him forget that one, Sokka kept putting pictures of their Dad in the suit around town for some time afterword. He then turned and took Katara's order from the person behind him and gave it to her. "Here is your diet coke and Toph's nachos." Bato said with a wink.

"How'd you guess?" Katara asked with a chuckle. Bato laughed and replied.

"Come on kiddo, I've know the lot of you for too long not to know who was going to be scarfing these nachos down." Katara laughed heartily at this and then paid Bato for the order, they said their goodbyes and she was off to make her way back to her seat. She was about to make her way down the steps to her row when she heard her name being called out. She turned to see Zuko's Uncle walking her way.

"Hello young lady." He began, even bowing a bit. Katara giggled at this, Mr. Kuzon was always so cheerful, he seemed to brighten the mood of any conversation he was having.

"Hi Mr. Kuzon!" Katara greeted cheerfully. "Excited for the game?"

"Yes, very much so!" He gleefully replied, "I've never come to the games here before, and it's been quite a while since I've seen young Zuko play!" Katara laughed at the thought of Zuko playing pee wee hockey. "Oh, miss Katara," he seemed to just remember why he called out to her in the first place. "Zuko left this in his closet, and well, I'm much to round to wear it, I figured that since you were his friend you could wear it." Katara startled as she saw him produce Zuko's white jersey from behind his back. She thought to herself it was funny she had just thought to herself that he would be too big for his Nephews jersey. Katara also thought to herself how much of a relief it was that Jin wasn't out there somewhere wearing it.

"I would love to Mr. Kuzon!" She said, he then took the drink and nachos from her hands and she the jersey from his. She put it on and the put her hair up in a messy bun so her hair wouldn't cover the name on the back. Katara would never have admitted it if asked, but she wanted everyone in the stadium to know whose jersey she was wearing. She rolled up the sleeves a bit so her hands would actually come out the ends, and then took the food back from Mr. Kuzon. "How do I look?" She asked him and made a little pose holding the nachos and her drink in the air like a waitress.

"Positively stunning!" Came his reply, they shared a laugh at this. They then made their goodbyes and he was off to the Parents section, and she to the Student seating. As she turned to make her way down the stairs, she saw Jin walking towards her. They made eye contact, Katara politely smiled at her, and made her way down the stairs. As she descended the stairs, Katara made damn sure though that Jin got a good look at her back, and the name on it. When she returned to her seat Suki and Toph were quite surprised at her new attire.

"Well, well," Suki began, Toph was too busy eating nachos to comment but her eyes were definitely giving Katara a knowing look. "Where oh where did you get that?" Suki continued, pointing at Katara's new top. Katara took a sip of her soda before answering, trying to look as non chalont as possible.

"I ran into Zuko's Uncle, and he gave it to me to wear." She kept her eyes on the ice where the teams were taking shooting practice, trying not to give away the fact of how happy she was to be wearing the jersey. She could definitely hear the whispers behind her about how she was wearing the new guys jersey, Katara was so happy with herself that she could burst.

"Look Toph," Suki continued, "look how smug she is!" Toph and Suki shared a laugh at this. Katara continued to standoffishly look at the ice, trying to ignore Suki's jabs. "Look how proud she looks," more laughing came from the girls. "Look at how she put her hair up so everyone could see exactly whose jersey she was sporting!" Katara snapped to look at her friends. They were laughing uproariously at her. Katara blushed and shot back.

"Well not everyone has short hair! You two don't have to do anything with your hair to show off-" Katara stopped herself, in her haste she had just admitted to showing off. Suki and Toph went dead silent but had looks of triumph on their faces. Katara pointed at them and put on her most serious face. "Not a word from you two." This threat seemed to have little effect on the two girls though. They immediately began mocking her. Luckily the crowd grew silent as the referee blew his whistle to signal the game was about to begin. By the time both teams had their starting line ups on the ice and were ready for the opening face-off you could hear a pin drop.

The puck hit the ice and the game begun to a roar from the crowd. The South Point team's starting offensive line was Sokka, Aang, and a sophomore she recognized from some of her classes, Sangok. The defensemen were Zuko and Hahn, with Haru in goal. South Point was instantly on offense. Moving into the Eagles zone and setting up their offense. They effortlessly moved the puck around, Hahn to Zuko, Zuko to Sokka, Sokka so Sangok, Sangok to Zuko. Then Zuko somehow found Aang streaking towards the net. Zuko's pass and Aang's shot seemed to happen instantaneously, and the red light flashed behind the net signifying a goal. To say the crowd was defining would be an understatement. They whole place seemed to shake as they celebrated the goal. The team surrounded Aang as they celebrated on the ice, and the South Point Student Section began chants taunting the Cherrywood fan section. Toph stood on her seat and began some sort of dance, everyone around them laughed. In less than 4 minutes the Polar Bears were on top, and the crowd couldn't be more excited. The starters went to the bench as the 2nd line came on to the ice to take the face-off. Katara could see the bench jostling and laughing as Coach Pakku struggled to keep them focused.

The game went on at a ferocious pace, up and down the ice they went, back and forth. The first period ended and the crowd stood and applauded. Things were looking very good for South Point, up 1-0. Katara saw Toph turn to her and Suki out of the corner of her eye.

"Our boys look good!" She was very excited, Katara had to admit she was very excited as well. Toph went on about the team, critiquing each and ever player on their strengths and weaknesses. "Even Sangok looked ok! Even though he is all gangly and awkward!" Everyone around them laughed at this. Somebody behind them tapped on Toph's shoulder and she turned around and they began to talk about the game. Suki turned to Katara.

"So, did Jin see you wearing this?" Suki tugged on Katara's sleeve. Katara huffed loudly, a whole period of hockey just happened and Suki still remembered exactly what they were talking about before it. "Don't huff and puff at me missy." Suki jokingly chided Katara. "You know damn well you want her to see you in this." Katara turned red then bit her bottom lip, she was very happy Jin saw her wearing it.

"She did." Came Katara's quiet reply, Suki squealed and lightly punched Katara in the arm. This got Katara laughing and they went on talking about how Jin would be insanely jealous after this. The excited rumble of conversation that filled the crowd came to a halt as the teams returned to the ice for the second period.

The Polar Bears looked confident as ever as they controlled the tempo of the game. Quick passing and solid defense kept the puck in the Eagles zone for most of the period. Katara found herself not watching the movement of the puck though, her eyes continuously found their way to Zuko. Katara had spent a lot of her life watching hockey games, whether it was the Sabers on TV, or her brother in pee wee or even the few 'Old Timers' games her father would play in. So what she began to notice was that Zuko was on another level than everyone else. He was always in the position he should be, he always had crisp accurate passes, and he always was stopping the Eagles offensive attempts. With a well timed check, or a quick move to steal the puck he was covering for everyone else's short-comings, especially Hahn. Aang was great, but he was a lot of wild flash with little discipline. Also, what Zuko told her in the locker room the first day she had met him was correct. Aang's childish style of play wasn't going to cut it in high school. Aang's goal had come off a perfect pass from Zuko, every other time Aang went in for a shot he was knocked down or cut off while he attempted a fancy move. As the period progressed it seemed everyone else in the stadium was realizing this too, even Aang. His shoulders were drooped, his legs were dragging, and his beaming smile was not spread across his face.

* * *

Aang was sucking wind when he hit the bench. He was feeling the effects of playing against much bigger, older guys. Last year in pee wee he was flying all over the ice, nobody could touch him. Now, he was getting shoved and checked whenever he touched the puck. Sokka sat down on the bench next to him, he was not as confident as he had been when he gave that speech before the game. Sokka was growing agitated, barking out direction, and generally losing his composure. Aang looked past Sokka to see Sangok chugging Gatorade, he looked tired. Then Aang felt somebody sit down on his left and looked over to see Zuko, as cool as a cucumber. He was silently watching the game, chewing on his mouth guard that was half in half out of his mouth. Aang was shocked to see Zuko wasn't tired, he was just watching the game and mumbling about strategy to Hahn, who was sitting on the other side of Zuko. Aang wasn't blind, he knew Zuko was picking up a lot of slack, and yet he was just sitting there like it was nothing. Aang guessed Zuko noticed him staring because he looked down at Aang with an eye brow raised. Then Zuko looked past Aang at Sokka shouting at the players on the ice, and Sangok huffing and puffing. Zuko must have just realized the team was begging to fray at the seams because his eyes got big, then he finally spoke to the offensive group.

"Sangok," The lanky sophomore looked over, "keep up the hustle, you're doing fine. Remember crisp passes." Sangok nodded in acknowledgement and then went back to watching the game, his breathing had calmed and he looked ready to go. "Sokka, Sokka!" The Captain snapped out of whatever trance he was in and focused on Zuko. "Start running the offense from behind their net, their goalie is inexperienced and every time you're back there he panics." Sokka dumbly nodded and turned back to the game mumbling to himself about staying behind the net, and no longer yelling at the rest of the team. Then he looked down to Aang, gave a smile and slapped him on the back. Aang whom had been just staring in awe of the ability Zuko had to get his teammates back on track, startled and refocused on Zuko. "You waste too much energy." Aang looked up at the older boy with a confused look. Zuko refocused on the game but continued to talk to Aang. "Too much stick handling, and too much unnecessary movement. You're fast, but you're moving east to west too much." Aang found himself becoming a little annoyed with how blunt Zuko was being with him, the reason he was able to do what he did was his constant movement. Zuko must have been a mind reader because the very next thing he said was, "I know up until now that style of play has worked for you. But now that you are playing with guys that can keep up with you it's failing. They obviously scouted you. They have two guys waiting for you to try and bring it at the goal by yourself." Aang turned to the game but wasn't really watching, his full attention was on the guy next to him. Zuko continued, "Start cutting more directly off the puck, I know you're used to having it all the time, but now you need to start moving without it. Stop waiting for it and just move to where you should be, your line mates are good passers, they'll find you." Aang was barely registering all this when Pakku called for a line shift.

Aang was up and over the boards, he was still sifting through everything Zuko had told him. The Eagles were moving with the puck towards South Point's goal, but Aang was still in a haze and let his man by him. His man took the shot but Haru came up with a great stop. Haru corralled the puck and passed it off to Zuko. Zuko found Sokka across the ice near the mid-line and made a perfect pass. Aang then saw Sokka moving up the ice with the puck and began to follow him when he felt a stick in the ribs. Aang looked behind him to see Zuko pointing to the net, and Aang understood. Don't go where the puck is, go to where it's going to be. Aang began streaking down the ice, in his peripheral he saw Sokka had passed to Sangok. Aang slapped his stick against the ice to get Sangok's attention and then they made eye contact. Aang had just crossed into the offensive zone and cut to the net. Must have been a hell of a pass from Sangok, he didn't even notice it until he found the puck on his own stick. Aang was right in front of the goal now, he quickly faked then shot, the puck hit the back of the net. The stadium erupted. Aang found himself surrounded by his team, even Hahn gave him a pat on the top of the head and they made their way to the bench.

Aang sat down and found his line mates were in the exact same place as they had just been a few minutes before, but the mood was completely different. Sangok was getting patted on the shoulder and quickly talking with Coach Pakku about the play. Sokka was encouraging the guys on the ice and making good pointers about what they should be doing. Aang himself felt a huge smile creeping across his face, and his legs were as light as a feather. He then looked to Zuko, and there he was, as cool as a cucumber, chewing on his mouth guard that was half in half out of his mouth, and mumbling about strategy to Hahn. Zuko looked like he didn't even know they had scored. They had given themselves a cushion, they were up by two, and they had a few minutes until the second period ended, then all that stood between them and victory was the 3rd period. Yet there was Zuko, just watching the game and preparing himself for his next shift on the ice. Aang turned to the game and took a swig of Gatorade, he guessed this was what it was like to play with a real pro.

* * *

Toph was jumping up and down emphatically, her boyfriend had just put another goal on the board. She turned to Suki and hugged her. Suki laughed and returned the hug.

"Your boy is putting on quite the show Toph!" Toph blushed at Suki's comment. Although she had been thinking along those lines only moments before, it was completely different having somebody say it out loud. Her guy, her boyfriend. The concept was still relatively foreign to her, but Toph was reveling in it anyway. In the weeks since the party word of her and Aang's new relationship had spread around town quickly. It was strange being talked about for reasons other than her family name. It was strange that she was wearing a boy's jersey at the game and cheering him on. But she liked it, it was new and different. Toph then looked up at Suki and stated quite confidently.

"Of course he is." Suki and Katara both laughed at this, and Toph let her smug smile give way and joined them.

"Must have been one hell of a thing Zuko said to him." Katara said, Suki and Toph both looked at her funny. What did she mean? Toph wondered. Katara must have noticed the looks she was getting from her two friends and hurriedly explained. "Well, on the bench just before the goal, Zuko and was telling Aang and the others something then on the ice Zuko directed Aang with his stick." Toph's eyes got big. She hadn't seen any of that. Toph had been following the game, watching the puck. The only way Katara could have seen all that was if… Toph suddenly knew exactly why Katara had seen all that, and a devious look emerged on her face.

"Well, well, well." Toph began, her mischievous smile growing even larger. "The only way you could have seen all that was if you were only watching Zuko all this time." Katara's face froze, and Toph saw Suki catch on to Toph's plan to embarrass their friend.

"My, my Katara." Suki chimed in, "were you mentally undressing him or something?" Katara blushed and turned to the game, Toph guessed she was going to try and ignore her and Suki's taunting. Well then, Toph would just have to say something she couldn't ignore.

"No Suki," Toph began, Suki looked to Toph to hear her jab at Katara. Then Toph put an innocent smile on her face and continued. "She was eye-fucking him." Suki's face went slack. Then her mouth scrunched up, she was trying to not laugh. Katara on the other hand looked utterly shocked. It was as if the color had drained from her face. Toph let out a howl of laughter at Katara's reaction. Suki couldn't hold it in any longer and joined in on the laughter at Katara's expense.

The intermission between the 2nd and 3rd periods went quickly since Toph and Suki were busy giving Katara grief over watching only Zuko. But their attention went quickly back to the game when in the first minute of the 3rd a Cherrywood player took out Aang after the play had been blown dead. The Eagles must have become frustrated at the fact a freshman was making them look bad. Especially a freshman they had probably been hearing about for some time now, and had most likely game planned against. The players started a small scrum, shoving back and forth, but were quickly separated by the refs. Toph felt her heart in her throat as Aang lay prone on the ice. The crowd around her was calling for blood, but Toph, the one whom would usually be calling for it the loudest was silent. A collective sigh rang out through the stadium though as Aang rose to his feat. He was slow, and ridged but skating. Aang made his way to the bench and slumped down on it. Now Toph could call for blood, she was pissed as hell. Nobody cheap shotted her boyfriend and lived! But just as she was about to throw herself in to a complete rage, a blue blur slammed the boy that had hit Aang to the ice. Zuko had knocked the shit out of him. The crowd became deadly silent, then a huge cheer filled the air. Zuko was now standing over the writhing Cherrywood player, and glaring at the Eagles bench so menacingly that none of them even stood to yell at him. Then the ref grabbed Zuko and was escorting him to the penalty box. Zuko's death glare suddenly turned into a 'who me?' and he took on the look of a 5 year old wondering why he was in trouble.

Toph laughed so hard she had tears in her eyes. The scene was just too funny. The biggest, most menacing guy on the ice was making the face of a child caught with his hand in the cookie jar. The crowd was cheering him, and the opponents were too scared of him to retaliate. Toph then looked to Aang and saw he was alright, and a little shocked at what Zuko just did.

"2 minutes for roughing, Number 13, South Point." Was announced loudly over the intercom, and the crowd applauded even louder. Toph was going to have a great big hug ready fro Zuko then next time she saw him. Toph looked over and saw Suki was clapping loudly and whistling for Zuko. Katara on the other hand looked like a mother about to punish her kid. Toph gave her a quizzical look.

"What are you in a huffy about Katara?" Toph asked, wondering why her friend seemed to be the only South Point fan not cheering her heart out for Zuko sticking up for Aang. In fact, Katara had laid into Zuko for a much more mild shot at Aang on his first day in town. Katara was saying something about irresponsible, but the crowd giving Zuko a standing ovation drowned her out. And Toph brushed Katara's Debbie Downer routine off and resumed cheering for Zuko. If Katara was to be upset with anyone on the Polar Bear squad it should be Hahn. Zuko had to come clear across the ice to get to that guy, Hahn was right there. Hahn should have been the one protecting the best scorer that South point had.

The Polar Bears were doing a good job of killing the power play that Cherrywood received for Zuko's retaliation. 2 minutes of being a man down was a tough thing to manage. Everyone had to cover more ground, everyone had to be stellar on defense. Having your best defensemen be the one in the box made this all the more difficult. But Toph was proud of how the guys were holding it together. Again and again the Eagles came down and threatened to score, and every time South Point stole and cleared the puck. Haru seemed to be a wall as well, when a shot did find its way towards the goal he was there every time. As the time on Zuko's penalty ran down crowds excitement began to grow. 3…2…1…and they had made it, Zuko came streaking out of the penalty box to an explosion of cheers. Then Sokka was suddenly next to him with the puck, a break away. Sokka made sure the goalie was focusing completely on him, then quickly passed to Zuko. And man oh man did Toph love the sound of Zuko hitting that puck with everything he had. The smack of the wooden stick on the rubber puck was deafening, and the sound of the crowd after Zuko scored to put South Point up 3 to nothing even louder.

The bleachers were shaking under Toph, the noise didn't subside either. The crowd just got louder and louder as the time ran down. The Eagles had lost all heart and everyone knew it. They played out the last few minutes without even really trying. When the clock hit 0:00, everyone went nuts. Hugging whomever was near them in the stands. Toph felt Suki and Katara grab her, and she jumped up and down with them as they squealed with happiness. She saw that the Polar bears were celebrating in a similar way down on the ice. Then from out of nowhere Sokka had the Pick Axe. She didn't know how he had gotten it so quickly, usually after the Cherrywood game the Principals of both schools would come out and present it to the winning team. But after a 6 year drought it looked like Sokka had no patience for a proper presentation. He skated around the rink holding it up to the crowd like it was the Stanley Cup. The team trailed behind him, waving to the crowd with smiles that couldn't be measured. And Toph saw in the back of the group, lagging behind the rest, a tall boy in a number 13 jersey. He wasn't jumping up and down like the rest, he wasn't waving to the crowd. It looked like he was searching for somebody, and then it looked liked he remembered that whomever he was looking for wasn't there. Zuko then exited through the tunnel behind the bench leading towards the locker room, leaving behind the celebration, alone. Toph glanced to where Katara was, she was gone. Toph enjoyed feeling smug.

* * *

I know, I know, a lot of hockey in this chapter. But there hasn't been much at all so far, and don't worry, if you don't like sports all that much this will probably be the most in depth any of the games are. See you all next time, and Review Please!


	10. Chapter 10

Wow, been a while. But lucky for you the NHL playoffs got me interested in writing this story again. Enjoy!

* * *

Zuko slowly walked down the tunnel towards the locker room. The cheers of the crowd and yelps of joy from his teammates faded behind him, but the walls still shook from the celebration. Zuko removed his glove and placed his hand on the cool brick that the stadium was built out of. A wry smile formed on his lips as he felt the wall vibrate from the sheer noise that the people of South Point were making. As he resumed his walk to the locker room he kept his hand on the wall, slowly dragging it along so he could literally feel the celebration. When he reached the room it was slightly quieter than the hallway but a soft hum could still be heard signifying the crowd hadn't stopped rejoicing. Zuko gingerly sat down on the bench in front of his locker and began to shed his uniform. First his helmet, then the tape from the blade of his stick was removed. Next his skates came off and then his elbow pads, each item carefully placed in the locker. Zuko found himself falling in to the same routine as every other time he did this chore. Even though it wasn't for the school he originally thought it would be for, and even though it was with a team that had little to no chance of going all that far, Zuko found he really enjoyed the first game of his junior season.

"No celebrating for the big bad Zuko?" The voice initially startled him, and he hoped she didn't notice he jumped a bit. But when he recognized the voice, Zuko realized he wouldn't want it to be anyone else. He slowly turned his head and looked at her over his shoulder. She was standing confidently in the doorway, hands on her hips. Zuko then cocked his head to the side in confusion as he saw her wearing a South Point jersey. When they were hanging out before the game he saw Sokka give his jersey to Suki, and Aang in turn gave his to Toph. Yet, Katara was wearing a plain white tee then, where did she get a jersey from, and whose was it? An annoyed feeling crept into his gut, and he turned back to removing his shin guards. He heard her huff and begin to cross the room towards him. "How can you be moody after winning?" Zuko slightly chuckled but did not turn to face her. "Are you not even going to comment on my new accessory?" Zuko sighed and looked at her over his shoulder once again. Then, when she saw she had his attention, Katara did a little twirl. The name and number on the back of the jersey was his! Zuko went red and quickly turned back to whatever he was doing, he couldn't quite remember what it was at the moment. Katara then took a seat next to him on the bench.

"Seems a little too big for you." He joked and she laughed. He then looked at her and noticed she had sat very close to him. She seemed a little embarrassed, and wasn't making eye contact. His gaze went moved higher and saw she had her hair up. The hairstyle made her neck visible, and he found his eyes tracing her delicate features down to her clavicle where it became obscured by the baggy jersey. "I assume my uncle had something to do with this?" Zuko did his best to keep a smile in his voice, he didn't want to sound accusatory or anything. She laughed lightly to herself and then finally made eye contact. Those big blue eyes, Zuko had to break the eye contact and look down at his task at hand to keep himself from doing something stupid, like kiss her.

"He found me in the stands, said he was too big to be wearing it." Zuko joined her in a laugh, the visual of his uncle attempting to fit into the jersey was too much. "So, are you going to answer my question?" Zuko had spent the entire time Katara was in his presence trying to remove one shin guard, but just knowing she was sitting next to him was so distracting he had to give it up. He leaned back and looked up at the ceiling, the humming of cheers had grown softer but it was still there.

"I guess it's just not in me." Zuko looked to Katara now and found she hadn't stopped looking at him the whole time he was avoiding her gaze. "I guess taking a victory lap just isn't in my nature. I'm used to just coming back to the locker room, and getting ready to go home." Zuko shrugged, trying to convey that he just wasn't sure what else there was to do after a game. Back at St. Mary's nobody in that locker room wanted to spend any more time than necessary with each other. Once they stepped off the ice, they became strangers. Here, even though he had only been living in South Point for a little over six weeks, he was accepted with open arms. Zuko found himself surrounded by teammates constantly. Whether it was in the hallways at school, in the shops along Main Street, or simply watching TV in one of their living rooms. Back in New York there were no huge on ice celebrations, not even when they won State last year. They shook hands with the other team, accepted their trophy, and left. His family life didn't exactly encourage him to celebrate his successes either. So watching Sokka and the others explode once the final seconds ticked off the game clock was quite an alien experience.

"Oh, come on." Katara's voice brought him back to the present. "Not even a little tiny bit of you wanted to freak out and celebrate?" She emphasized her point by flailing her arms around, mimicking her brother's actions on the ice. Zuko couldn't help but let an enormous smile cross his lips as she sat there, arms still raised above her head with a goofy inquisitive look on her face. "What's so funny?" She asked.

"I don't know, what do you think it could be?" Zuko replied as raised his own arms mirroring her posture. She laughed realizing he was mocking her and brought her arms down on to his making them both lower their arms. He resisted and raised his arms up again. "No, you know what? You might have something here. I might just keep my arms up like this all the time."

"Shut up!" She exclaimed through fits of giggles continuing to try and shove his arms down to his sides. The problem was he was much stronger than her, and quite a bit taller. To try and gain some leverage she propped herself up on her knees on the bench. Zuko laughed as the giggling girl attempted to overpower him, this seemed to give her more incentive to win their impromptu little wrestling match. The problem with this was he was now supporting most of her weight, and having less than a foot of bench to balance both of them on made this difficult. The inevitable happened and the fell backwards to the floor. Katara gave a sharp yelp as Zuko fell away from underneath her. Zuko's back hit the rubber surface of the room's floor, and he let out a low grunt as he had the wind slightly knocked out of him. The rest of the wind was knocked out of him as Katara landed on his chest. He closed his eyes and let out a long sigh trying to regain his composure. When he opened his eyes all he saw was Katara's eyes gazing right back at him. They had come to be in an awkward position on the floor. Zuko was flat on his back with his legs propped up on the bench, and Katara was on top of him. All she did was smile.

"I win."

* * *

Sokka triumphantly walked down the tunnel to the locker room with the pick axe raised high above his head with the rest of the team in tow. They had spent a good 20 minutes skating around the ice, showing the trophy off to the crowd, and maybe showing a little bit extra off to the Cherrywood fans as they filed out of the arena. The most entertaining part was when Principal Wu tried to make Sokka give the pick axe to her so she could formally present it to the team. Sokka refused, he instead continued to celebrate with the team as she announced them as this year's winner of the annual Pick Axe Rivalry Game over the loud speaker. He figured she wouldn't mind the lack of formalities too much, as the win meant more to her then presenting the trophy. Sokka had noticed Zuko had ducked out of the celebration early, this didn't surprise him. As Zuko had only been a resident of South Point for a relatively short amount of time, Sokka knew he didn't fully understand the enormity of the win. Sokka felt an arm around his shoulders and looked to his right to see Aang. The younger boy was sporting the biggest grin Sokka had ever seen.

"My Captain, My Captain!" began Aang, to the laughter of the rest of the team behind them. "How do you intend to break the news to Suki that you have a new love?" Aang asked gesturing to the pick axe in his hands. The team cracked up even louder. Sokka pretended to give this question serious contemplation, then responded with his usual joking manor.

"There is enough Sokka to go around!" The laughter in the tunnel was now deafening. All the members of the team were also slinging out jokes full of innuendo, the pick axe was apparently going to rock Sokka's world tonight. Sokka then turned around to address his team while walking backwards. "Tonight this is our key to the city!" A loud cheer came from the team in response. "Tonight we're going to run this town!" Another cheer in response, Sokka felt his back hit the door to the locker room and turned to open it. "Tonight we-" He stopped mid-sentence, as when he opened the door he was greeted to the sight of his sister on top of Zuko on the floor, saying something like 'I win'.

Katara's head shot up and he and his sister locked eyes, her jaw hit the floor, and Sokka figured his had too. He immediately made an about face and closed the door behind him. The team was shouting about the traffic jam that had accumulated around the door. Sokka racked his brain for an answer to why the team was not going to be entering the locker room for the time being. He was saved from giving some halfcocked lie when the door opened up behind him. His sister emerged and began to weave her way past the team mumbling congratulations. Sokka immediately made another quick turn and reentered the locker room, pick axe in hand.

* * *

Toph made chit chat with Suki and some others outside the arena. It seemed the whole town was waiting for the team to emerge. The excitement was palpable, everyone was over the moon about the win. Even the old men that seemed to never smile, just sit in on practices and grumble about each players strengths and weaknesses, were cracking jokes and Toph thought she saw them discretely passing a flask around amongst themselves. Everyone was grinning ear to ear, except for her friend that was walking towards her with a very distressed look on her face. Toph nudged Suki to get her attention away from whomever she was talking to and motioned towards the advancing Katara. Suki immediately noticed that Katara looked mortified.

"Oh, what happened between Zuko and her now?" Suki asked exasperatedly. Toph's mind went along the exact same lines. When Zuko disappeared off the ice, Katara disappeared from the stands, and they had to have met up somewhere. Now with Katara looking the way she did, the only explanation was she and Sparky had it out, again. Toph and Suki weren't surprised when the first thing out of Katara's mouth was she needed to talk.

"What did Sparky do this time?" Was Toph's reply, Katara's eyes got big, apparently she didn't know she had been so easy to read.

"It wasn't Zuko, well not really, oh, Sokka is going to go ballistic!" While Katara babbled, Toph and Suki looked at each other quizzically. Suki must have been on the same wavelength with Toph, and that wavelength was 'What the hell is she talking about?'

"Why don't we just take this crazy train somewhere less crowded?" Toph offered to Suki and then they led their unhinged friend away from the crowd. Once they were out of earshot of the mass of people waiting for the team, Katara filled them in on what happened. Toph listened as she recounted the encounter with Zuko in the locker room, and Toph had to hold back a maniacal cackle when Katara told them that Sokka burst in.

"So odds Zuko is breathing?" Suki asked jokingly, Katara didn't seem to think this was very funny.

"By now the whole team knows about it!" Katara yelled shooting her arms above her head. "Then the town!" She was no pacing back and forth in front of Toph and Suki. "What if Sokka freaks out? What if he never speaks to Zuko again? What if the team falls apart?" Toph put her head in her palm and sighed heavily.

"Nobody freaked the last time you two spent some 'Alone Time' in the locker room together." Toph quipped, tired of watching her friend have an unwarranted meltdown, and wanting to go meet Aang. This comment earned a glare from Katara and a giggle from Suki.

"This is different." Katara began, becoming calmer. "Sokka walked in just as I was about to ki-" Katara clasped her hands over her mouth. Toph's eyebrows shot up, the way Katara had explained it earlier it was a flirty wrestling match that ended with them on the floor and a surprised Sokka walking in on a situation he would take the wrong way. Now she was admitting to making a move on Zuko. Suki squealed at the juicy bit of gossip, Toph rolled her eyes and blew her bangs out of her eyes. Honestly, Toph thought, the way Katara and Zuko always seemed to complicate things between themselves was unbelievable. She was sure two people that had known each other for such a relatively short period of time could not have this much drama. Yet these two seemed to have done it with ease.

"You and Sparky are insane." Toph said and turned on her heel to rejoin everyone that was waiting for the team.

* * *

Aang stood behind Sokka with the rest of the team as their Captain was giving a rather animated speech to the newest member of the team who was sitting with his head in his hand. Sokka was pacing back and forth, swinging the pick axe to and fro, occasionally pointing it at Zuko. Aang was not particularly happy with Zuko at the moment. He had not seen what Sokka had seen, but he did see Katara rush from the locker room looking very flustered. What had he done to Katara? What had Katara done to him? Why was Sokka talking about "honor" and "taking responsibility", and why did he sound like a politician while doing it? Long official sounding sentences with words Aang was sure Sokka didn't understand. Why wad Zuko just sitting there, not even trying to interrupt Sokka? The rest of the guys had been finding this whole situation quite amusing, while Aang could feel himself literally bursting with questions, questions that needed answering.

"…and furthermore, the child shall be instructed in the way of the great game that is hockey by me, for I am the effervescent leader of all that is hockey in South Point-" Sokka's speech, Aang would describe it as more of a ramble, was cut off as Zuko stood up and grabbed him by the shoulders.

"You Are A Crazy Person!" Zuko exclaimed, the whole team when from sniggering to full on laughter at this, and the whole scene seemed to diffuse as everyone made their way to their lockers to change. Sokka gave Zuko a smile and sat next to him at his own locker, and Aang made his way to the other side of Sokka to his locker.

"So what did you walk in on that warranted that, display, Sokka?" Aang asked nervously, hoping he didn't get the answer that was forming in his mind. Sokka had seen Zuko and Katara doing something that inspired him to give Zuko a speech about childcare. Instead Zuko answered Aang's question.

"He saw the aftermath of Katara tackling me, and assumed we were making the next generation of his family." Aang felt a huge weight lift from his shoulders, Katara had just tackled him, and there was nothing between Zuko and Katara. So Katara was still single and he still had a shot. Aang bolted upright, he had somehow just admitted to himself that he still wanted Katara, but he was with Toph, right? Aang placed his head in his hands as he tried to get a hold of himself. He thought he was over Katara, had moved on and now had an awesome girlfriend. But, then why did he get upset whenever the subject of Zuko and Katara got brought up? This was no good. Aang was brought out of his thoughts as Sokka slapped him on the back.

"Katara must be embarrassed as all get out!" Sokka exclaimed, and Aang wondered how this extremely over protective brother was not disturbed at all about Zuko and Katara. Did Sokka believe what Zuko said about what he and Katara were doing? Aang found himself wondering if he believed Zuko. "I know!" Sokka turned back to Zuko, with a mischievous glint in his eye. "We'll freak her out even more! I'll chase you around with the pick axe and Katara will lose it!" Aang did not feel this was a very good idea. He looked to Zuko, hoping the older boy would voice what Aang was thinking. At first, Aang's hope of Zuko being weary of pranking Katara was seemingly rewarded, but then Zuko's apprehensive look turned to a smirk that mimicked Sokka's. Aang sighed and voiced his worries.

"You know this is just going to end with Katara exploding on you two." Aang said in the manner of a disapproving parent. But the two older boys just smiled and assured Aang that it would all be fine. Aang let it go and found himself focusing on his feeling for Toph, and his maybe not so gone feelings for Katara.

* * *

Katara stood to the side of the crowd with Suki. They had followed Toph back to the exit that the team would emerge from. Suki was going on about all the parties that would be going on all over town tonight, and how their group would be expected to make appearances at all of them. Katara was worried if their group would even make it out of the parking lot. After Sokka had seen Zuko and her entangled on the floor together, he might have killed Zuko. And if the happened her Dad would have to arrest Sokka. And if that happened there would be a huge scandal. And if that happened everyone would find out about her and Zuko on the floor. And if that happened everyone would call her a whore and blame her for two of the best players on the team being dead and in jail. And if that happened she would be kicked out of town. And if that happened what would she do? She was going to be banished from South Point and be alone in the world. What would she do for a living? How would she finish school? How would she make money? She'd have to become a prostitute! Then her pimp would kill her! She was going to die!

"Katara!" She jumped and saw that Suki was trying to get her attention. "You're hyper ventilating and mumbling to yourself." Suki said with a worried look. Katara was going to freak out, and she was about to unload her train of thought that lead her to become a dead hooker when the door burst open. Out came Zuko, he was wearing black jeans and a red hoodie, with a black pea coat over that. His gym bag slung over his shoulder, and he was in a full sprint. This was not what the crowd expected, they had assumed the team would come out together triumphant and ready for their applause. So when they were instead met with the newest team member in a full sprint the crowd was hushed instead of celebratory. Then what Katara saw next made her stomach plummet. Her brother was next to emerge, clad in his usual blue jeans and letterman jacket, with the pick axe raised high above his head, ready to strike down on Zuko. Suki let out a resounding "Fuck!" obviously thinking what Katara was, that Sokka was going to murder Zuko.

"I shall have satisfaction!" Bellowed Sokka as he pursued Zuko, the crowd parting to let them through. Katara and Suki stood seemingly planted in the ground wide eyed, watching the horrific scene play out in front of them. Katara could not believe it, her worse nightmare was happening, right in front of her, in front of the whole town for that matter. "You shall pay City Boy!" Sokka continued as the two boys went round and round the area. Katara could hear the crowd, young and old, mumbling "what the fuck?" Soon all she could hear was her heart pounding in her ears. Then Zuko made an abrupt turn and was headed straight for her! His almost comically terrified face softened as he neared her. Then, when he was a few feet away, Zuko broke into a huge smile.

Whatever Katara was about to scream was now caught in her throat, what the hell was he smiling about? Her brother was about to brain him with the trophy they just won and he was smiling? Then Zuko's smile was followed by a wink, but Katara had little to no time to be confused by this. In one smooth motion, without even breaking stride, Zuko bent down, wrapped his right arm around her waist, and lifter her ass over tea kettle onto his shoulder. Katara heard herself unceremoniously shriek as he did this and she was staring at the small of Zuko's back when she heard her brother's distinctive laugh. Sokka's laughter was soon followed by what seemed to be everyone there. She then lifted herself so she could see what was going on, and everyone was in fits of hysterics. The rest of the team had emerged and they were laughing as well. And there was her brother, calm as you please with his arm over Suki's shoulder waving goodbye to her and Zuko.

"I'm going to kill you Sokka!"

* * *

Sorry it was not very long, but there is more to come! Read and Review please!


	11. Chapter 11

Been a while since that last chapter, sorry for the delay. So here is an extra long one for you...That's what she said!

* * *

"I'm not putting you down until you promise to stop freaking out." Zuko calmly explained to the girl slung over his shoulder as she let loose a rather impressive stream of expletives. Zuko sighed to himself and shook his head, Katara was obviously not listening. The defensemen just continued walking towards Gran Gran's diner carrying the irate sophomore.

"I can't believe you!" Zuko raised his eyebrows as a bit of surprise crossed his face. That was the first complete sentence she had mustered in quite a while. "Ooh! I bet you and Sokka think you're so funny! Causing a scene like that, now everyone will ask why Sokka would chase you, then all the guys on the team will say it's because I was on top of you in the locker room, and everyone will talk!" Although her rant was frantic, Zuko found that Katara's logic was sound. Then he found himself feeling something that surprised himself, he didn't care. More than that, he liked it. All his life he was the center of gossip. His Fathers money, his Sisters brilliance, his banishment, his local celebrity here in South Point, his Mother's death. It had always made him want to exit stage right, leave the spotlight empty, to allow somebody else to step up and fill it. When he was younger, Zuko would let his temper get the best of him, and would lash out at those talking about him. As he grew older, he became indifferent. The whispers behind his back seemed to fade away. Then, after moving here, it was like the volume was turned way back up. The collective attention of this small town was suffocating. Being insulated by his new friends had helped. Yet the whispers were building up, becoming like the intensely loud static on a station you don't get. But this time, this time he liked being linked with the crazy girl he was now carrying through town. He liked that they were spoken of in the same sentence. He liked that the whispers about them, because her name sounded so good in a whisper. He liked that in this town, when talked about, Zuko went with Katara and Katara went with Zuko.

"It'll be fine." Zuko offhandedly reassured Katara as he re-adjusted her up higher on his shoulder. His nonchalance did not sit well with her as the expletives returned. Having Sokka for an older brother seemed to expand her vocabulary in a way Zuko would never had guessed she was capable of. "You are definitely Sokka's sister," Zuko said mainly to himself, but she must have heard him because the swearing stopped and was replaced with a groan of annoyance.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" The way she asked the question set off a red flag in Zuko's head. Growing up with his sister and her friends had given him the ability, gained through years of trial and error, to hear certain tones in a girl's speech. Certain tones that went with certain questions, and the wrong answer meant trouble. Zuko guessed being the younger sibling of the Akiak family came with a lot of baggage. Sokka didn't exactly endear himself to his teachers. He shared 4rth period English with his teammate, and even though Zuko's experience with Sokka as a classmate was a limited sample, he could see he got on authority figures nerves. This seemed to mostly be due to the fact that although Sokka was exceptionally bright, he enjoyed slacking off and joking around in class to actually working on his academics. A few days ago in English Sokka haiku battled the teacher, turning the course material on its head seemed to amuse Sokka greatly. It wasn't just in school either, Sokka was known as a disrupter of the peace all throughout South Point. For Katara, having to follow that act must have been a pain.

"Just, well," Zuko was about to step on a landmine, and he knew it. But then Zuko smiled, and went right ahead tromping through the minefield. He liked it when Katara was feisty. "You don't seem to fit the description that everyone in South point seems to have of you. You fight, and squabble and quite frankly, curse like a hockey player." Zuko waited for the yelling to come back, and the thrashing of her body. Instead he was greeted with silence, and in Zuko's experience, the silence was worse than the yelling. "You still back there?" Zuko tentatively asked, trying to keep the aloofness in his voice as to not betray the fear that was building in him.

"I'm going to murder you when I get down." Came her even toned response. A chill went down Zuko's spine, and try all he might, he couldn't blame it on the weather.

* * *

"So how mad do you think she is?" Aang asked as he climbed in to the back seat of Suki's SUV. He knew it was a bad idea to pull that prank on Katara. She was going to kill Sokka and most likely Zuko too. Everyone else seemed alarmingly ok with this for some reason Aang didn't quite understand. They even hung out for a good while with everyone outside the stadium, Zuko had a good 20 minute head start with Katara by now. Sokka was still on cloud 9 from the win, pick axe in hand. Suki was stroking her boyfriend's ego, but considering how whipped she had him, it seemed only fair he got his moment in the sun. Everyone else that had hung around for the team outside the stadium was peeling off into groups, out to find one of the many parties that were going to crop up tonight.

"She'll be fine." Suki said over her shoulder to Aang, but this isn't what the freshman wanted to hear. 'She'll be fine' meant Suki knew Katara would be ok with being manhandled by Zuko. That Katara would easily forgive Zuko because she liked him. That Aang had lost Katara to Zuko. Or maybe he was over thinking everything like he usually did.

"Yeah, we'll meet them down at Gran Gran's like we planned before I chased him outside, grab some food, and party hop the night away!" Came Sokka's enthusiastic response. Aang's mind wandered to what would most likely happen tonight at the parties they were supposed to go to. They would hang out as a group, but eventually they would pair off and split up. Suki with Sokka, Aang with Toph, and Katara with Zuko. Then Katara and Zuko would go off somewhere and drink and, and, Aang face palmed himself.

"What bugging you twinkle toes?" Toph's voice snapped Aang out of his imaginings of Zuko and Katara ending up together. He looked to his left and saw her giving him the look she always gave him when he was acting like a weirdo. Aang sighed and shook his head indicating nothing was wrong. She raised her eyebrow higher and then seemed to let it go, turning her attention to Suki and Sokka arguing over the music they were listening to. Toph usually pushed things when she didn't like the answer she got, Aang wondered why she let him off from further explaining in himself this time. The past few weeks being Toph's boyfriend had been, adventurous. Aang had no experience whatsoever when it came to a relationship. Having the friendship base was extremely helpful, the awkward stage of getting to know somebody that you liked was bypassed. Sokka and Zuko had explained this to him in one of their 'man talks'. Aang was glad for Zuko's advice during the talks they had, Sokka seemed to enjoy reliving his conquests more than imparting knowledge on Aang. Zuko on the other hand had a very similar experience with the most serious girlfriend he had back in NYC. They had been good friends growing up and it evolved in to a romantic relationship when they started high school.

So with their past and Zuko's help Aang had a head start with Toph. Now came the stuff he had no idea how to handle. Intimacy in public for one, Toph seemed very comfortable with kissing him no matter who was present company. Well, Toph seemed to always have no problem with doing what she wanted no matter who was present company. Considering his first kiss ever was in the dark room with Toph at Haru's party, Aang was quite the novice. And since that make out session in the dark room, Aang was having paranoid delusions that he was incompetent at being a boyfriend. He felt as if the people that saw him kiss Toph were laughing at him and saying things about how he was doing it all wrong. Add to that wondering when was the right time to attempt to hold hands with her, and what to call her when introducing her to his grandfather(he had not let it slip to Grandpa Gyatso that he was dating Toph). 'Dating' was also worrying him. They hadn't actually gone out on a date. They basically had the same routine as before, just with making out involved. Should he ask her on a date? Do you ask somebody you are supposedly dating on a date? Aang wished Zuko was in the back seat so he could ask him about these things.

But another part of him wished Zuko never moved here, never started hanging out with them, and never stole Katara. Aang looked at Toph's profile with a guilty lump growing in his gut. He was supposed to be with Toph, yet whenever he saw Katara with Zuko he became jealous. Whenever Katara smiled at Aang he got butterflies in his stomach. Whenever Katara wasn't paying attention he stared at her chest. He even fantasized about Katara when he masturbated. Aang felt so ashamed he wanted to throw himself out of the moving vehicle.

"What's got you so glum kiddo?" Aang was once again snapped out of his inner monologue by a female voice, this time it was Suki. He looked up to see she was watching him in the rearview mirror. He looked over and saw Toph wasn't paying attention to him, she was talking with Sokka about how Zuko had clobbered that guy from Cherrywood. He glanced back to the rearview mirror where Suki's eyes were still on him and not the road. This type of behavior had alarmed Aang the first hundred times but he was now used to Suki's driving habits.

"Just exhausted." it wasn't a total lie, Aang was tired from the game. He the leaned back in his seat and slouched a bit to emphasize that he was tired and that's why he seemed off. Suki's eyes returned to the road. Aang liked Suki, she was exactly what Sokka needed after Yue left. Yue was Sokka ex, her father was mayor of South Point for most of Aang's life. She and Sokka had spent a lot of time together since the Mayor and Sherriff were always at the same social gatherings. Sokka had been smitten with her since forever, and just as they were graduating middle school Sokka had finally worked up the nerve and kissed her. It seemed as if they would end up together. But then her father had decided it was time to have bigger political aspirations, and they moved to Albany. Sokka was a mess, and then proceeded to date anything in a skirt when he started high school. He used his status of hockey player to hook up with every girl he laid eyes on. That is until Suki shot him down in spectacular fashion in front of the whole school at lunch. Then he was her property, he pined for her, changed for her, and eventually got her to go out with him. And as they say, the rest is history.

"Don't worry bud," Sokka said as he turned in his seat to face Aang. "We'll get some grub up in you, then party, then you can sleep all day tomorrow. Oh how I love Sundays, just rest and relaxation! No practice to wake up for, so you don't have to wake up till noon!" It was true Aang thought, Sokka was never heard from in the AM on Sundays. He would eventually emerge and hang out at some point in the afternoon. The girls laughed at Sokka's enthusiasm for having no enthusiasm on Sunday mornings, Aang let out a chuckle as he sunk lower in the seat. The he felt Toph lean over and let her head rest on his shoulder, snuggling in to him.

"Aw, look at them honey!" Suki said in a mock parental tone. "They grow up so fast! They look so adorable, Toph with her little head on his little shoulder." Sokka laughed heartily as Aang turned red. Toph just stuck her tongue out at the older girl. Yes, Aang had Toph's head on his shoulder in the back seat. But was her jet black pixie-cut head of hair the one he wanted on his shoulder? Or was it the head of brown wavy locks that had just went off into the night with the new guy? Then he felt Toph slide her hand into his, and those rough, warm digits made him feel at ease. Toph was his rock, for the past few years now he realized. And when she was holding his attention, his feelings for Katara got pushed so far back in his mind they almost disappeared, almost.

* * *

From the view Katara had, which was the path Zuko had tread so far, she could tell that they were headed towards Gran Gran's. Most likely they would meet up with her idiot brother and the others. The only other place in town Zuko was familiar with in this direction was her house, and why would they be heading there? They weren't having one of the many parties that were planned in the town tonight. Maybe he was taking her there to have his way with her! He was going to carry her all the way home, through her front door, up the stairs, into her room, throw her down on the bed and make her his. Katara found that she was increasingly hoping this was their destination instead of Gran Gran's Diner. The physical contact she had with Zuko at the moment wasn't helping her expel the very unladylike thoughts from her head. His strong arm around her thighs, and the constant jostling of her pelvic region against his shoulder, not to mention the excellent view she had of his ass. Katara couldn't handle it anymore, and let out a shrill scream of embarrassment and began to kick her legs.

"I thought we were past this." Came Zuko's even response to her outburst of sexual frustration. He though she was still struggling against his capturing of her, good Katara thought, if he knew the real reason for her outburst she would just die on the spot.

"How much longer can I expect to be your hostage?" Katara asked, throwing as much mock boredom in to her voice as possible. The last thing she needed was for Zuko to know how much she had been enjoying her capture.

"Don't think of it as much as a hostage situation, but more as you being my trophy." Zuko chuckled to himself, and Katara did her best to sigh with boredom instead of giggle like a dumb school girl. "Heavy sigh? Well I personally think a pretty girl is much better than a pick axe. Although, I wouldn't be surprised if Sokka attempted to get it on with the pick axe tonight instead of Suki." This Katara did laugh at, she couldn't hold her façade of being mad/bored at her situation. For one, yes Sokka would likely attempt to make love to the pick axe, and two, Zuko called her pretty. "Ahh, a laugh." Katara huffed and blew the few strands of hair that had fallen from her messy bun out of her face.

"I still feel like a hostage, prisoner even." Katara replied coyly. After laughing at his joke and flattery, Katara couldn't play the angry card anymore. So flirting for the rest of the walk to Gran Gran's was a good enough option to go with.

"If you really want to feel like a prisoner, I could tie you up to that tree over there." Zuko countered with mirth in his voice. Katara liked when his voice sounded like this. Not the cocky rich boy teasing she got from him most of the time, or the solemn contemplative mysterious voice he had when he revealed bits of his past to her. And definitely not the spiteful rage filled voice he had when he lost his temper. This was a husky, warm voice that he took on when he was actually happy. Katara suddenly surprised herself with how much she had picked up on Zuko in the few weeks she had known him, apparently to the point where she knew the different inflections in his voice. She bit her lip and continued the game they were currently playing.

"Sorry, not in to bondage." Zuko's initial silence made Katara think she went too far too fast with the flirt game. She had blown it, oh how embarrassing! She was being carried by the boy she liked, he had put up with her initial outburst of anger, then when he had opened the door for an enjoyable conversation she went and made it uncomfortable. Then Katara felt herself get mad at Zuko, he was the one carrying her through her town! He was the one that had embarrassed her in front of everyone! Lord knows all the cars passing by were pointing and laughing! Why couldn't this stuck up, no good, arrogant prick take a joke! She was going to explode again when Zuko calmly replied.

"You never know until you try it," Instantly the temper tantrum building in Katara subsided, and just as quickly as she became angry, now it was embarrassment. How did Zuko send her emotions in to such a torrent without even knowing it? "You might just like it Katara." Zuko teased, and then Katara felt something she didn't expect. Zuko slapped her on the ass. Katara felt as if all the blood in her body rushed to her face. Did he just spank her?! If Katara thought her emotions were all over the place before, she had no idea in hell which emotion she should even have now. Should she be angry? Embarrassed? Katara decided to fight fire with fire. She reached down, lifted up his jacket, and bit his back through his shirt, hard. Katara felt Zuko slip out from under her. At this point Katara decided injuring the person carrying you close to six feet off the ground was maybe not a good idea. Katara was heading face first towards the ice covered concrete. Then she felt Zuko adjust and somehow get himself under her again. They spun, flipped, Katara didn't know what was up or down. Then the sudden stop as they landed in the snow piled up next to the sidewalk. "Damn, girl." Zuko groaned.

"Mmm, Zuko…" Katara moaned before she could catch herself. She blushed then opened her eyes, gaining her bearings. Zuko had not only made sure she didn't hit the pavement, but he landed under her as well, taking the full brunt of the fall. For the second time this evening, Katara was lying on top of Zuko. She looked down at his face, his eyes were closed tight, and he was groaning as he reached for his back. Either the fall or her bite was bothering him, she figured it was probably her bite. Katara had no idea what the hell she was doing. Katara didn't run off in the night with tall, dark, and handsome boys. She didn't wake up in the arms of those tall, dark, and handsome boys. She didn't sneak in to the locker room to meet up with those tall, dark, and handsome boys. Katara was the good girl, she had straight A's. She didn't break curfew. She donated her time to causes. She was the responsible one, and boy did Suki and Toph let her know it. But Zuko, Zuko made her feel so different. She wasn't bound by her reputation as the bleeding heart, goodie two shoes. Katara could just be a girl with a boy. "Are you ok?" Katara asked.

"I'll live." He replied, still not opening his eyes. "With a big-ass bite mark in my back." Zuko chuckled, then writhed a little bit, and groaned something under his breath. Katara let out a soft, sympathetic laugh, almost a coo. She smiled softly down at him, and the bleeding heart Katara poked her head out a bit. She slipped her hand in the front of his eight hundred dollar leather jacket, and felt the warmth he radiated. She slid her hand up his stomach and over his chest, only a thin cotton shirt separated his skin from her palm. The contact seemed to soothe him as the lines around his eyes, and the creases in his forehead disappeared. His body relaxed and he brought his hand out from behind his back where he must have been massaging the bite mark. Zuko then placed his hand on the small of her back and held her to him. Katara held her breath and waited for him to open his eyes, not noticing she was slowly but surely moving her lips closer to his. When Zuko did open his eyes Katara suddenly realized how close she had gotten and made to move off him. But Zuko's hand stayed firm against her back and she didn't put up a fight, allowing herself to rest comfortably against him.

"I uh… I'm sorry I bit you." Katara couldn't believe that was the line she went with. Guy opens his eyes to find you about to kiss him and a lame apology is what she went with? Zuko smiled lightly up at her.

"I guess I asked for it," he started, glancing for a moment down to her hand on his chest, then back up to her eyes. "I got a bit handsy." His soft smile spread in to a wide grin when he mentioned how he had snuck the brief contact with her ass. Despite herself, Katara smiled and snorted a bit. What a messed up situation, Katara thought. This night was insane. She ambushed Zuko in the locker room, ended up on top of him, was caught by her brother, scared half to death when Sokka chased Zuko, and snatched up by Zuko and carried off. Then to top it all off, he had grabbed her ass and she had bitten him and now they were cuddling in a snow bank.

"Yes, you did." Katara replied, she noticed there was no anger in her voice. Just a simple acknowledgement that, yes, he indeed went south of the equator with his hand. Katara continued to smile down at Zuko, and found he looked the most happy he had since she met him. Well, not necessarily the most happy, was it more, the most untroubled? Zuko had always seemed to have a cloud of worry over him, no matter what mood he was currently in. Katara would notice it just behind his eyes. Those golden irises would convey his emotions so well, happy, sad, or in most cases with her: anger. But just behind them was always this conflicted glimmer, like something was holding him back from being completely in the moment. Was it something in his past? His family? Sokka had told her that Zuko confessed he too had lost his mother. Maybe a past love? Katara found she didn't want to follow this train of thought and pushed it out of her mind. For now it was just her and Zuko, in this snow bed together. "But I think you could find a way to make it up to me." Katara said as she leaned down, she was going to kiss him, and that's all there was to it.

"I thought the bite was making it up to you." Zuko countered, this stopped Katara's movement. Was he trying to tell her to stop? Did he see she was going in for the kiss and came up with that response to let her off without embarrassing her? Had she read all the signs incorrectly? Did he not feel the same about her? They had been so close, and what they were doing in the locker room earlier was definitely flirting. Fine, Katara thought, she gave Zuko a dismissive look, raised her eyebrows and began to pull away when Zuko face shot up and their lips met.

When Katara got over the initial shock of realizing he was kissing her, she leaned in to it. Noticing he was doing all the work, she then started to move her lips as well. He had propped himself up on his elbows to kiss her, and now was lowering the both of them down, once he was on his back again his arms snaked around her waist and made sure there was no space between them. Katara had to admit he was very good at this, and became worried about her inexperience. But he led her through it and made her comfortable. Katara could go on like this forever, and she didn't mind in the least when Zuko's hands ventured south from her waistline. Katara's only ever kiss before this one didn't even feel like a real kiss anymore. The quick peck she got from Hahn during a round of spin the bottle was wiped completely from her mind now, this was now her first kiss.

"Hey! If you wouldn't mind, could you stop manhandling my granddaughter?!" Katara shot up and looked to her right, there was Gran Gran standing on the porch of her diner giving her the stink eye. Katara would welcome the sweet embrace of death now. She buried her head in Zuko's chest, as if this would protect her from the ultimate embarrassment that was occurring right this moment. She felt Zuko lift himself up a bit to see Gran Gran.

"Hi Gran Gran!" Was Zuko insane? How could he just greet Gran Gran like that?

"I really don't enjoy looking out the front window of my place to see my granddaughter getting busy in the snow with some hotshot hockey player! If your butt wasn't cute Zuko I would give you a good spanking!" Katara blanched, did her grandmother just call Zuko's butt cute? Why weren't her prayers to be struck dead this very moment being answered? "Now pick yourselves up and get in here before you catch cold! Lying in the snow like that, really!" Katara, having held her eyes shut as hard as possible since Gran Gran called out to them felt Zuko get up from under her.

"Come on, we've been caught. Might as well get something warm to eat." Katara opened her eyes to see Zuko standing over her, hand outstretched to help her up. Something warm to eat? Is that all he could think of at a time like this? The most passionate moment in her life just happened and now he was ready to move on and eat?! She scrambled to her feet and headed towards Gran Gran's. As the passed Zuko she saw he was quite bewildered by her attitude. She didn't acknowledge him when he called after her. Katara left Zuko out in the cold as she entered the diner.

* * *

"What is Zuko doing just standing outside the diner?" Suki asked as she pulled in to the empty parking lot. When her headlights hit his back it startled him and Zuko turned to the SUV. He looked confused, like he was in shock or something.

"What's wrong with Sparky?" Came Toph's voice from the back seat.

"And where is Katara?" Followed Aang. Suki rolled her eyes, if that stupid kid didn't quit pining after Katara and give his full attention to Toph she was going to kill him. Exhausted? Yeah, her perfectly toned ass he was exhausted. Aang was bugging out over Zuko and Katara running off the whole drive over. Sokka had told her about Aang's little crush, not like everyone in town hadn't seen him chase after Katara like a little lost puppy their entire lives. Sokka jumped out of the car first and jogged over to greet Zuko, Suki and the two younger teens followed.

"What up bro!" Sokka exclaimed giving Zuko a fist pound. "Where's Kat?"

"She just went inside." Zuko explained. Sokka nodded and practically jumped up the steps and into Gran Gran's. Aang and Toph followed hand in hand, then there was only Suki and Zuko. Suki walked up to him and looked him square in the eye. Yeah, he definitely looked shell shocked Suki decided. Since Zuko moved here, Suki usually didn't hang out with him alone. Sokka or one of the others was there too. But when school started up they had a few classes together, English which also included Sokka, and Biology where they were lab partners. Zuko was very serious in the classroom, Suki was happy that having him as a lab partner increased her grade significantly. But they did get to know each other better when Zuko wasn't being so studious. Suki enjoyed having somebody around that she could engage in an adult conversation with. Having a pretty good bearing on Zuko by now, she could definitely tell something had happened.

"What did you do?" Suki asked crossing her arms over her chest. Zuko got a bit flustered, Suki liked watching boys get hot under the collar. She didn't really need Zuko to answer seeing as he never got flustered unless it was about Katara. Mr. Cool himself was always so composed, on the ice, in the classroom, all the time! So Suki took particular pleasure when Katara rattled his cage. The added fact that he was so disheveled in his 200 hundred dollar jeans, and 800 hundred dollar jacket, with snow in his hair…wait snow in his hair? Suki smiled to herself as Zuko tried to pull himself together.

"Well, I…and we…then…Gran Gran! Then she got all mad!" Suki put her head in her hand and placed her other hand on Zuko's shoulder. This was too good, never was he so unkempt around her. Even when Katara got under his skin he had a quick remark. Whatever Katara did to get him wound up like this must have been something. Would these two ever just make life simpler on the rest of them and figure it out?

"You're going to have to elaborate on that one buddy." Suki said to the babbling Zuko. He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath then when he opened them Suki saw the calm, cool, collected Zuko had returned. She reached up and brushed the snow out of his hair, he chuckled, probably just realizing it was there. Suki looked him dead in the eye, and gave him a small smile to encourage him on.

"I carried her here, then we got in a tussle, then we were in the snow bank," Zuko gestured to the dent in the snow, Suki snorted when she tried to hold her laugh in. Zuko shot her the 'listen up this is important' look he gave her in class when she wasn't paying attention. Suki stopped laughing, stood up straight, and gave him the 'who do you think you're looking at' look she always gave Zuko in return. The familiarity they had after knowing each other for such a short time amused Suki. "Then we kissed." This snapped Suki right out of her musings and back to reality. She encouraged him to go on, Suki may be playing therapist right now, but she also wanted the gossip. "Then Gran Gran caught us," it took all of her will to not laugh. But Zuko's frustrated grunt meant her eyes must have betrayed Suki's amusement. He sighed and continued. "Then when I got up to help her up and head inside, Katara freaked and ran past me in to the diner." Suki groaned and rolled her eyes. Katara went and over reacted to something Zuko did, again.

"Come on, let's get something to eat before Sokka ransacks the place." Zuko huffed and shoved his hands into his pockets. He was obviously not excited to enter the same room as Katara. "And I'll have some girl talk with the girl you seem to drive insane on a constant basis." Suki laughed, wrapped her arm around his, leaned her head on his shoulder and led him towards Gran Gran's. "Pull yourself together city boy, it's going to be a long night." This caused Zuko to let out a half groan, half laugh as they went up the steps.

They entered and walked arm in arm over to the usual table, Sokka already mid meal, retelling the game play by play. Aang was just as animated, with just as much food in his mouth as Toph humored them both with her attention. The fourth person at the table didn't look as happy as the others. Katara was glaring at the boy on Suki's arm, meal in front of her untouched. Suki brought Zuko up to the table and sat him down. "Now, sit and eat your dinner." She patted him on the head to complete the dog/owner routine. The three occupants of the table actually having a good time laughed, and Zuko hid behind a menu. "Come on Katara, I need to go to the bathroom." Katara didn't seem to hear Suki, she was busy trying to bore a hole through the menu Zuko was using as a shield. "I said come on Katara." Suki was a bit more forceful this time, physically pulling the other girl to her feet and somewhat dragging her to the bathroom.

The bathroom in Gran Gran's was small, but large enough for two stalls and a large vanity area. The walls were pink and had a small flower print. Sokka had explained to Suki that the men's room was a 4 foot by 4 foot room with a toilet and a sink, that day's sports section hung on the wall with a pushpin. Suki shoved Katara in the ladies room and closed the door behind them.

"So I hear things got hot in the snow?" Suki began, smug look on her face as she crossed her arms. Katara's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates, then she groaned and hopped up on the counter next the sink. Suki waited to hear Katara's side of the story. Zuko's account had been the bare bones facts, Katara's was certain to be the more emotional tale. Katara swung her legs off the edge of the counter like a child, and looked down at the ground as if she were being punished. "Hey, princess?" Suki coaxed, "just tell me what happened." As Suki had expected, Katara's tale of what happened was much longer and much more erratic than Zuko's had been. The juicy bits Suki did get were that they argued, he gave her a spank(much more adventurous than she had previously given Zuko credit for), Katara then bit him, they ended up in the snow, and then made out(which also included Zuko groping Katara's butt, Suki would never have guessed Zuko was such an ass man.) Then they were caught by Gran Gran and that brought them to why Katara was mad, well more confused than angry.

"I mean, it was the most I have ever done with any guy ever!" Katara exclaimed, Suki rolled her eyes, Katara didn't notice. "And then he's all, 'let's go eat, la de da, no big deal'!"

"Zuko said 'la de da'?" Suki asked sarcastically. Katara, whom had been telling this story mostly to herself seemed to remember Suki was in the room. She whipped her head around to look at Suki.

"This isn't funny Suki!" Suki put her hands up defensively, all the fight went out of Katara and she let her head droop. Suki moved next to her friend and placed an arm around her shoulders. Katara leaned in to Suki and moaned something about her making a fool out of herself whenever Zuko was around. Suki had to admit, Katara did seem to do that quite well. Suki was only one year older than her, but now more than ever, she saw how sheltered Katara was. Only one kiss before whatever happened in the snow just before the rest of the group arrived, man did Katara need to loosen up. It was time for her to start living, going out with boys, whether they were Zuko or somebody else didn't matter. Katara needed to make mistakes and do more adventurous things than go to outlet malls with Suki. Now that the Katara had gotten the crazy all stored away, Suki checked herself in the mirror and motioned for Katara to follow her back to the table. When Katara seemed to hesitate, Suki got behind her and began shoving her out of the bathroom. If this was how she had to get the ball rolling with Katara, then so be it. She was going to make sure that girl had life experiences, and Suki would definitely make sure Sokka stayed out of the way from now on.

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Hope you enjoyed, Reviews are appreciated.


	12. Chapter 12

New Chapter for you guys. The NHL lockout is making me sad.

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Zuko hit his chair like a ton of bricks. He was usually a fairly good morning person. Pee wee hockey practices usually take place very early in the morning, so the routine of being an early riser had been ingrained from an early age. Yet, this particular Monday morning Zuko was definitely not looking forward to school. He had texted Sokka the night before and let him know not to pick him up today. Not that Sokka needed telling, even that meathead could tell putting Zuko and Katara in the same car would be a bad idea. Hell, in fact putting anyone from the group in the same car would have been a bad idea. How had a Friday that started so good turned into a Sunday that ended so badly? They won the game, he got the girl, kissed the girl, and then it all went to shit. Suki had seemed to smooth things over when the girls emerged from the bathroom, but that was just the start.

* * *

Zuko looked up from his meal as Katara and Suki were sitting down. He gave a weak smile and Katara returned it. Ok, Zuko exhaled, she wasn't that mad. A smile was a good thing right? Ok soon everyone would be laughing and having a good time.

"So what did you do to get Sugar Queen all hot and bothered?" Zuko's stomach did a summersault. Leave it to Toph, Zuko thought. Just as everything was settling she decided to flip the table. Very cautiously, he glanced at Katara. She was not looking back at him, she was looking down at her food, her face getting more and more red. Katara was about to explode, Zuko had to do something. He did what he always did in these situations, he looked at Suki. She seemed to have nothing for him, shit. Zuko did what usually got him in trouble, he opened his mouth.

"We just, uh…" Well he was off to a roaring start. "She was not happy about the prank, and…" He trailed off again. If this were speech class Zuko would definitely be pulling an F. A quick look back to Suki, she looked at him as if he were insane. "And, well, I um-"

"What?! Are you embarrassed to tell them?!" Katara's outburst cut Zuko off, and he slowly closed his eyes waiting for the bombardment of insane that was about to hit him right between the eyes. "We made out in the snow bank." Zuko still had his eyes shut, but could tell she was facing towards the others now. "And apparently, for city boy here, taking advantage of small town girls isn't a big deal!" Zuko's eyes shot open. What the fuck was that supposed to mean? He looked at Katara with bewilderment, but she refused to meet his eyes. He then looked to Suki again, why wasn't she fixing things like she always did? Suki looked just as shocked as he did. Then he slowly turned to the three people at the table that had no idea what was going on. Sokka was in shock, but Zuko could tell it would turn to anger soon. Aang was already angry, big surprise, he was still gaga for Katara. Then there was Toph, the little pixie had the biggest shit eating grin on her face.

Zuko was losing this battle. Sokka, Toph, and Aang were the jury of public opinion now. Katara's prosecution had struck a heavy first blow. Zuko was now painted as the accused. Where was McCoy from Law and Order when you needed him? Again he looked to Suki for assistance. She gave him the raised eyebrows of 'Stop looking at me, there is nothing I can do for you'. Zuko needed a rebuttal, and was shocked to find he had one. In his fights with Azula he never had a good comeback, she just got him too angry to think straight. Luckily Katara didn't know him as well as his sister did. Katara wasn't making Zuko angry, just scared of what the others would think. Scared Zuko could work with, he could form clear thoughts while scared.

"Taken advantage of? Who was on top?" Katara gasped. Suki lowered her head into her hands, apparently she didn't think fighting back was a good idea. To hell with what Suki thought, Zuko had his honor to think about. Wait, Zuko mused, when did he ever use the word honor? Never mind, he pushed his thoughts of honor out of his head, he was on the offensive now. The three headed jury now turned to Katara. Her mouth was opening and closing like a goldfish. Zuko allowed himself a smug smile, big mistake. Once Katara saw that smile cross his face, her whole demeanor changed.

"Before that! When you grabbed my ass!" Oh no, the focus was now back on Zuko. Zuko was done and he knew it. He had used his one piece of ammo, now he was done. Why was she acting like this? Kissing her had seemed like such a good idea at the time. Delusions of them going out had filled his head. It would be perfect, the six of them would be paired off and Zuko could have the perfect small town life. Zuko then came to the realization that it would never happen for him. He was too different from this group of people. Zuko did his best to fit in, accepting the kid like behavior of his new friends. He thought them weird. He thought they were too childish, and then he realized it was him who was messed up. He had grown up in a place where people his age acted older then they should. Katara was freaking out about the make out session because she wasn't used to it. She was a kid, and she should be too. But Zuko? He hadn't been a kid for a long time. He was a binge drinking, chain smoking city boy. He had quit when he moved up here, but damn he wished he had a cigarette right now. Unfortunately every place that sold them here knew who he was, and that he wasn't 22 like his fake id said. Hell, he didn't even know where his fake id was anymore. Zuko was a latch key kid that grew up in a world with no parents around. A world of cutting class, doing drugs, and breaking the law on a consistent basis. These five on the other hand had grown up in a world of white picket fences, pies cooling on window sills and every other small town cliché you could think of.

"You know what kids?" Zuko stood up from his seat. He almost didn't recognize his own voice, he just sounded so damn defeated. "I'm going to go home." Every looked really uncomfortable. The look of kids at a dinner table where mommy and daddy just finished a big fight. Luckily he was on the end of the booth and didn't have to make somebody move to escape. He reached in his pocket and pulled out way too much money for the bill and threw it down on the table. Smiled and nodded at Gran Gran who had emerged from the kitchen due to the yelling and left.

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"Well that could have gone better." Suki said as the door shut behind the exiting Zuko. She looked around the table. Sokka was slowly beginning to eat again, none of the glee from the win remained on his face. Aang was visibly upset, knowing that Katara had made out with Zuko was obviously brining up his unrequited feelings for her. And poor Toph, she could see the same thing Suki was seeing on Aang's' face. It must be hell for your first boyfriend to be in love with somebody else. Lastly she looked at Katara. Suki may only be a year older then Katara, but right now she looked so much younger. Quivering lip, hands in her lap, those big sad eyes. "Katara, are you ok?" Katara didn't respond, she just sat there. Sokka had finished his burger and stood up.

"Well, I'm off to somebodies party." They all looked up at him. Suki had no idea what the hell her boyfriend was thinking. Nobody at this table looked in the partying mood. He held his hand out to her and surprisingly she took it. "I need to have some fun, this meal was one hell of a downer." He pulled Suki to her feet and they were walking out as well. Suki looked over her shoulder at the three they were leaving behind. Maybe it was best those three were left alone, they had some things to work out. As they went outside into the cold Suki saw Zuko a few blocks down, walking to his uncles' place. Hunched against the wind, with his hands in his pockets, he looked so alone. She wondered for a moment if asking Sokka to give him a lift was a good idea, but figured Zuko didn't really want any company right now.

* * *

Aang was pissed, basically seeing red. He couldn't believe Zuko had taken advantage of Katara, or she was on top of him, or whatever happened. Aang was so disappointed in her, how could she? He focused his gaze on Katara, she was looking rather despondent. Her elbow propped on the table, with her head in her hand. She didn't look sorry, she didn't look embarrassed. This made Aang even more upset. How could she just sit there like this wasn't a big deal? She made out with Zuko!

"I can't believe you let him do that to you." Aang said the most accusatory voice he could manage. Katara seemed to be brought out of her daze, and stared up at him.

"Excuse me?" Katara replied. She didn't seem too happy with his comment, but he didn't care. She's the one that made out with a guy she only knew for a few weeks. All the fantasy's he had about them ending up together were falling apart. She was supposed to be above something like this. Katara wasn't supposed to make out with anybody. She was supposed to be his. "Would you like to repeat yourself Aang?" Aang leaned back in the booth, fine if that's the way she wanted to play it.

"Didn't know you were that type of girl Katara." It had as much venom behind it as Aang could manage. He wasn't very good at being mean. If he was ever angry Aang would just yell, never be vindictive. The path he was taking this conversation down was new to him. "Fooling around with random guys, real classy." Katara was now sitting at full attention.

"Well Aang, I don't really see how it's any of your business." The volume of her voice was rising exponentially. Her eyes were narrowing as well, Aang was determined to stand his ground. As for if it was his business or not, she had been his friend for a long time. Zuko on the other hand was the new guy. She shouldn't just be making out with him. Damn Zuko, why did he have to show up and be all dark and mysterious? He just shows up and has to join his group of friends, and get his dream girl to fall for him.

"Well when it gets brought up in front of the group, we kind of become involved." That was as good an explanation as any Aang decided. Katara didn't seem to agree with him, she just seemed to be getting angry with him. Maybe that was a good thing. Now she could stop seeing him as a little brother and start seeing him as a guy. A guy that could get angry right back. "So Zuko manhandles you and you retaliate by kissing him?"

"Actually I bit him first, since you're so damn interested." Aang lost his edge for a moment. He went from mounting anger to a little bit shocked. Bit him? Was that like a sexual thing? How far did they go? If she liked him so much why was she upset with him? Aang was getting more and more confused, and quickly his shock over Katara's admittance of the biting was gone. He was mad again.

"So you're into that kind of stuff?" He was being childish now, but Aang didn't care. She had betrayed him, somehow it felt that way at least. Katara stood up, she was about to storm off like Zuko had done. Was she going to find him? Was she going to kiss him again? Aang didn't want this, she should stay here in Gran Gran's with him. "Running off to find him?" She stopped, good, at least he kept her here for a little longer.

"I'm going home, you're pestering is pissing me off." Aang was losing it now. She was mad at him? He wasn't off with somebody he barely knew doing god knows what.

"So questions piss you off, not guys groping you?" Katara started walking towards the door now. She stopped turned and glared at him.

"Why the hell are you acting like this Aang? I expected it from Sokka but he actually acted like an adult and went about his business." She was tearing up a bit in the corners of her eyes. Aang had made her sad as well. He didn't care though, he wanted to make her hurt, because she hurt him. "What the fuck is it to you?" He opened his mouth to respond, but somebody else answered.

"Because he's still in love with you!" Aang swung around to see Toph crying. In his rashness and anger, Aang forgot she was there. She had just sat there and listened to the whole thing. Aang instantly felt his anger drain away. It was replaced by copious amounts of shame and regret. Toph had said the actual words, but the way he acted up until she voiced them gave him away just as much. Toph suddenly stood and rushed out the door, almost bowling over Katara as she did. Katara left shortly after. Aang sat alone in the booth until his Uncle picked him up. Gran Gran must have called him.

* * *

Sokka didn't see anyone from the group all day Saturday. Well he saw Katara around the house, but they didn't speak. After Suki and he left the diner they went to a party, but they didn't exactly have a great time. They spent it talking quietly in the corner about his sister. Then they called it a night rather early, and went home.

Now it was Sunday, and he had practice to get to. Coach Pakku gave them Saturday off after the win. Sokka was sure a hellish Saturday practice would have been in store for them if they had lost. But, then again, if they had lost the group wouldn't have imploded on itself like it did. He and Zuko wouldn't have come up with the prank, Zuko wouldn't have kissed Katara, and the meal wouldn't have disintegrated into a fight. Sokka surprisingly wasn't mad at Zuko for making a move on Katara. He figured it was coming eventually. They obviously liked each other, and quite frankly Sokka was tired of playing the over protective brother role. Maybe it had something to do with Zuko not being from South Point. Sokka didn't have a lifetime to judge Zuko like he did every other guy in town. Sokka chuckled to himself and walked into the locker room.

"How're my favorite Polar Bears!" Sokka exclaimed as he walked in. He received a few halfhearted cheers in response. Everyone seemed not so happy to be here on a Sunday, but that seemed to go for every weekend practice. He saw that Zuko was already here and suiting up. Sokka dropped his bag next to his locker and sat down next to Zuko. Zuko glanced his way and gave a subtle nod. Sokka gave one in return and began to ready himself for practice.

As they got ready the room filled with more and more guys trickling in. Finally it was Aang that came through the door. Sokka and Zuko acknowledged him, but he walked right by them and plopped down at his locker and began to disrobe. Sokka shot a quizzical look to Zuko, who seemed just as confused at Aang's behavior. Practice was also confusing. The whole team seemed invigorated by the big win, except Zuko and Aang. Zuko was going through it like he always did. Full tilt, all in, work work work. But he was so robotic, not that Zuko was ever especially animated. Sokka chalked it up to his whole deal with Katara and let it go.

Aang on the other hand was so out of it that Pakku sat him on the bench for most of the practice. He was slow, didn't seem interested at all. It was like Aang was sleep walking. It was so weird to see the kid that had always been a ball of energy act like he had none of it. Aang was especially unresponsive to Zuko. Usually when Zuko gave pointers in practice everyone listened, especially Aang. Today he wasn't listening to anyone, he hid behind his Plexiglas visor. Sokka felt he should have talked to Katara about what had happened at the diner after he and Suki had left. Aang was definitely not ok. After practice the three of them stayed after the rest of the team cleared out. The room was very quiet. Aang had barely changed out of his gear, staring off into space. Sokka and Zuko were in street clothes milling around. Zuko was methodically packing his bag, so Sokka decided to start the conversation.

"So what's up Aang?" Sokka asked. Lame opening he knew, but it was to the point. And this problem seemed like it needed blunt force to deal with it. The kid was way too far in his own head for Sokka to pussyfoot around the situation. Sokka heard Zuko stop packing behind him. Well good, everyone was paying attention. "You weren't very 'there' today." Aang finished removing his gear and began getting dressed. He still wasn't even acknowledging that Sokka was asking questions. "Look Aang, you're my friend and you'r-"

"Looks like everyone has new friends." Aang replied curtly. Sokka was taken aback at Aang's attitude. Aang very rarely ever lost his temper, and when he did it was a huge blow up. Here he was acting not like he would normally angry. Aang was being spiteful, towards Zuko. Sokka always had the inkling that Aang still had feeling for Katara, but once Aang started going out with Toph Sokka thought the puppy love was over. Looks like Zuko getting to Katara first had brought Aang's crush roaring back. Sokka heard Zuko groan behind him. "Yeah, I'm talking about you Zuko."

"Get over it Aang." Came Zuko's even response. Sokka turned to see Zuko had stood up and was facing Aang now. Sokka had only seen Zuko ever fight with his sister, and that was never any big deal. Zuko always was hunching to meet Katara's eye level. But now, Zuko was standing to his full height, shoulders back, ready to go. Sokka had to admit the guy was intimidating. He might have to make sure Aang wasn't killed. Aang took a few steps toward Zuko, Sokka moved in between.

"This is all your fault Zuko!" Aang was yelling now. Sokka had his hand on the younger kid's chest to hold him back. But Sokka could feel Aang wasn't using all his strength to get at Zuko. Sokka didn't blame him, Zuko had about a foot of height and 50lbs of muscle on him. "You took advantage of Katara. And you Sokka, why aren't you upset about this?!" Sokka sighed, he knew Aang would try to drag him into this against Zuko.

"Aang, they like each other, a little horseplay is to be expected." Damn, Sokka thought, he was being very mature about this. He momentarily got distracted patting himself on the back, but was brought out of it when Aang knocked his hand away and backed up. The young goal scorer was beginning to tear up. "What happened after we left on Friday night? Katara was in a funk all day yesterday."

"I asked Katara how she could do that with him." Aang gestured to Zuko, who had not moved an inch. "Then she got mad at me, when it was him that did, did... what he did!" So Aang had pressed Katara about Zuko, and Katara got mad. Sokka was starting to get the picture. "Then Toph said I still loved Katara and ran off. Now they both hate me and it's all Zuko's fault." Sokka ran a hand through his hair. Man this was bad. For Toph to go off like that, Aang must have done more than just ask Katara about Zuko. He would need to get the full story later. For now he needed to make sure Aang didn't do anything stupid, like attack a much bigger guy.

"Look, Aang-" Sokka began, but was cut off by Zuko.

"You're such a fucking child." Oh man, Zuko was angry now? Sokka needed back up, but there was no way he could leave these two alone to get some. "My fault? You're the one that led Toph on while you still were following Katara around like a puppy dog. Everyone could see it." Well truth be told, Sokka hadn't picked up on that. He was never the best at picking up on stuff like that. Zuko bent down and resumed packing his bag, this time much more erratically, but he continued to scold Aang. "You always expect shit to fall in your lap. If you wanted Katara, then you should have talked to her about your feelings instead of just waiting for something to happen. If you didn't really have feelings for Toph then you should have told her instead of expecting her to be the one that ended it. I mean really, you were too chicken shit to be honest with Toph and you hurt her. Because it was easier, it was easier to just be with her and still pine for Katara than man up and be honest with the both of them. You're the same out on the ice, no work ethic. You glide around and wait for somebody to do the hard work for you so you can put the puck in the net. My fault? What happens between Katara and I, is between Katara and I. Maybe she got mad at you because you were butting in where you didn't belong. So fuck off you little shit." Zuko finally stopped when he had nothing to left put in his bag. Sokka stared at the empty locker. Zuko had taken everything out of it except his blue jersey. He left it hanging, zipped up his bag and left the room. Sokka turned to Aang, he was crying now. Everything Zuko said was true, and Aang knew it. Sokka quietly waited for Aang to get his things together, and gave him a ride home.

* * *

So now it was Monday, and Zuko sat sulking in his chair. Everyone was shooting him strange glances. Then Suki came in, Zuko wasn't particularly happy about seeing his lab partner right now. She gave him a smile and sat down next to him.

"So, Sokka called me last night and told me everything." Zuko groaned in response and put his hand over his face. "Then I called Katara and she elaborated on what happened in the diner after we left." Zuko made no noise in response this time. "Quite the tongue lashing you gave Aang." Zuko dropped his hand and looked over at Suki. She wasn't showing any emotion, not tipping her hand as to whose side she was on. Maybe she was just staying neutral, Switzerland. There was one big brain full of street smarts behind those big green eyes, staying neutral was definitely the smart move here, Zuko thought.

"So, I've been getting some weird looks from everyone since I walked in to the classroom." Zuko nodded towards their classmates to emphasize his point. "Does the whole know about our little spat?" Suki looked around the room and then back to him.

"They want to know if you quit the team or not." Zuko furrowed his brow. Quit the team? He did clean out his locker. Maybe it would be best if he did. This wasn't his town. He didn't belong on its team. "Somebody saw your locker and freaked out. It's been circulating around town for the past 12 hours or so." She wasn't pressing him for an answer, damn, was Suki the only sane person in this town. Maybe she was just the only one that knew how to talk to him.

"Maybe it's better if I do quit." He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "And maybe it would be better if I stayed away from you guys too." Yeah, probably wouldn't go over too well if he just showed up to hang out with Katara or Aang. "I messed up your little group something awful." She laughed, Zuko did too. He didn't know why, it wasn't meant to be funny. Then he felt her head on his shoulder and he opened his eyes. She was staring up at him sideways.

"Hang in there kiddo." Zuko took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. Yeah, hang in there, in a frozen wasteland where nobody liked him. "Plus you have until 5 to decide on staying with the team or not." He chuckled a bit. The teacher came in and the class settled into their seats. He and Suki sat up straight and began class.

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Hop you enjoyed. Reviews, as always, are much appreciated.


	13. Chapter 13

Sorry for the delay. Hockey season has been too fun. Enjoy!

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After first period Zuko and Suki went their separate ways. He would see her again in the class before lunch. Zuko now slowly made his way down the hall, the whispers and sideways glances that followed his progress were beginning to wear on him. They had been quiet, in the background when he said his goodbyes to Suki. Then as she left, Zuko could feel it crescendo, like a wave forming. It swelled and grew until it was about to crash upon him. But it subsided almost instantly when he saw her. In this whole insane, teenage hormone filled, fucked up situation the one true victim. Gone was the prideful strut, her steps were small and pigeon toed. Her pale, exuberant eyes were shrouded behind her midnight bangs. All of Zuko's self-pity disappeared, it was shamed out of him. He was shamed to think of how he didn't try to call her, text her, anything. Had anyone spoken to her since Friday? It must have been the loneliest weekend in the history of weekends. The sea of students parted for her, their eyes following her every move. These halls must have never seen her this way before. Zuko didn't part, he stood in his place and let her head bump into his chest. She must have been startled because he saw her body jump a bit at the contact. Then she let her weight fall forward and leaned into him.

"Nobody else wears $300 jeans in this town." Zuko chuckled at her answer to the question he never asked. He patted the top of her head softly and sighed. Toph was such an amazing kid. Her small frame hid the heart of a lion. Everyone underestimated her, until they knew her for two minutes. She was as sharp as a tack, and had a wicked tongue. But Zuko had never seen somebody as loyal to her friends. Toph was exactly what Zuko imagined an amazing little sister would be.

"You should really learn to watch where you're walking there kiddo," Zuko fake chided. "What if I was some no good street thug?" She rewarded his weak joke with a halfhearted chuckle. She still hadn't looked up at him, she buried her face in his hoodie. His hand slid from the top of her head to her shoulder, then he wrapped his arm around her. Even in her current state, Toph's pride wouldn't let her make eye contact. Because if she did look up, Zuko would see her tears, her weakness.

"If you were a street thug I would've beat the shit out of you." A soft smile crept across Zuko's features. He looked around and saw that they had become the center of attention. Everyone was ogling them, nobody moved. A teacher would be along shortly to see why nobody was making their way to class. Zuko looked back down at Toph and a crazy idea began to form in the back of his head.

"Fuck it." Zuko swung Toph to his side, arm still around her shoulders, and started walking her briskly down the hall. Her back stiffened at the sudden movement, but her short legs somehow kept up with his quick strides. He heard her mumble some kind of protest but he ignored it. They made a right, then a left, then walked right out the front door.

* * *

Katara was not in the mood for second period math right now. Everything was wrong. Zuko was mad at her, Aang was mad at her, and Toph probably wanted to kill her. On top of the people she cared about hating her, everyone in the school was giving her weird looks. She ran into Suki in the hall, and the older girl explained that everyone thought had Zuko quit the team. And since she was the temptress he ran off with Friday night, the feeling around school was she must have done something. Katara found it somewhat funny that schoolyard gossip had gotten it right for once. She was going to be demonized forever. The best player that this town full of hockey nuts has ever seen waltzes in out of nowhere. He joins the team, and in his first game helps beat their biggest rival. Then she went and ruined him.

The bell rang and Katara got her notebook out, then she realized the classroom was mostly empty. She had been so deep in thought about how she would be run out of South Point for making Zuko quit the team, that Katara had no idea only five students were in the room. The other students exchanged glances, obviously as confused as she was. Then their teacher went out into the hall to search for his missing class. Everyone around her immediately started yammering on about what could be happening they were all missing out on. The door then burst open and what looked like every student that had been missing stumbled in. They were all going on about something but all their voices together just made a mashed up mess. But Katara did make out two names, Zuko and Toph.

The girl that sat next to her had been one of the students that just entered. She leaned over and whispered to Katara.

"You must have done a number on him, because he just ran off with Bei Fong." Katara's eyes must have been as big as saucers. The girl laughed under her hand, and continued. "He held her in the hall, and then they went rushing out the front door." Katara couldn't believe what she was hearing. They ditched school? She knew the romantic undertone the bimbo next to her was implying wasn't true. Toph had become Zuko's de facto little sister. But them just bolting from school was quite the shocker. That big city delinquent was going to get Toph in to all kinds of trouble.

* * *

Toph couldn't believe it, she was walking down Main St. at 9:30 in the morning on a school day. The chilly air and brisk walking pace Zuko was setting had snapped her out of whatever funk she had been in. They were ditching. Toph may have played the bad girl role, but she had never ditched school before. And they weren't even doing it discretely. They had strolled out the main entrance to the school, and were now walking down what the town's main thoroughfare. If she was going to ditch, Toph would have slipped out a back door and taken back streets to get home. Toph had the feeling they weren't going home though. Her theory was proved correct when they made a sharp right into Mr. Kuzon's tea shop. Zuko's Uncle looked quite surprised when he looked up from the Pai Sho game he was sharing with Mr. Piando.

"Hey Uncle," Zuko nonchalantly greeted. "Could you call the school and tell them Toph and I went home sick?" Zuko then herded Toph over to a booth, and they occupied the same side. Toph looked in shock at Zuko's uncle as the old man smiled warmly and returned to playing the board game without a protest of any kind. She then looked to the boy sitting next to her. He was rubbing the back of his neck and rolling his shoulders. They were the mannerisms of a man much older than he was, a man with heavy mental burdens that made him physically sore. Zuko shrugged his jacket off and threw it across the table so it landed on the empty bench across from them. He then slouched until they were at the same eye level. He propped his feet up on the empty bench where his jacket lay, and turned his head to face her. "So how you been kiddo?" Toph broke into a small, sad smile.

"Well, for starters." Toph licked her lips and tried her damnedest to hold back the tears stinging her eyes. "I lost my boyfriend to my best friend, then spent the next two days completely alone, and then was just whisked out of school by you which is most likely to cause even more problems in my life." Zuko remained silent, he was letting her get it all off her chest. "I mean, everyone treats me differently as it is. My Dad employs practically everyone in this town that doesn't have a shop on this street, so everyone walks on eggshells around me. Then once they think I'm out of earshot, they whisper and point. Now the only group of people that didn't treat me like that is falling apart. Aang's still infatuated with Katara, so that's going to ruin my friendships with them. Sokka will avoid me for Katara's sake, and that means Suki will too. So now I'm fucked, just plain fucked. All because I decided to go out with somebody I knew was in love with somebody else." Toph took a deep, shaky breath. She felt the tears she was so determined to keep at bay fall. Before she could reach up and wipe them away, she felt something warm and soft brush them back. It was the cuff of Zuko's shirt, he was drying her tears. She laughed at how pathetic she was being.

"Yeah, quite the pickle I've gotten your little band into." Toph thought he must have been trying a small joke to lighten the mood. But it came out so sincere that it just sounded heartbreaking. Zuko was blaming this all on himself? She raised one eyebrow at him, questioning his logic. "I never start hanging out with you guys. I never get close with Katara. Aang never gets jealous. You and the rest of the gang don't implode." She punched him in the arm, hard.

"Dumbass, how does you joining the group stop me from allowing myself to date Aang." Zuko rubbed his arm where she had struck him. All he did was shrug. She let out a frustrated grunt and slouched like he was. Her feet didn't reach the other side of the booth, so she rested them on Zuko's legs. "Thanks for getting me out of there though. I don't think 2 days were enough for me to come to terms with losing my boyfriend, and the rest of my friends for that matter."

"Well, it was also a but selfish on my part." Zuko replied.

"Got to get out of school for the day?" Toph quipped.

"Got out of deciding if I'm going to stay on the team for another day. Miss School that day, and you're not allowed to practice." She laughed. "And I'm sure the gang will weather this storm. You've all known each other far too long to let a high school romance ruin it." Toph rested her head on his shoulder and silently hoped he was right.

"I noticed you didn't include yourself as a part of the group that would be weathering the storm." She hoped he would stick around. Zuko had become important to Toph. The big brother she never had.

"Yeah, well," He sighed loudly. "I don't think I'll be around once the storm subsides. Best for everyone involved." Toph began to cry again.

* * *

Sokka cradled his head in his hands. Even lunch, his favorite part of the school day, couldn't make this day any better. He looked across the table, Suki and Katara were quietly talking about something. Aang was missing, Sokka had no idea where the freshman had gone off to. Toph and Zuko were also missing, but at least he knew they weren't even at school. Their prison break was the talk of the campus. The nerve of those two, they could at least have invited him to skip out too.

"Get over it babe." Sokka was brought out of his musings by his girlfriend. He gave Suki a questioning look. Sokka had no idea what the hell she was telling him to get over. It was as if she was having a conversation with him that he had not been present for most of. "They ditched without you, get over it." Oh, nope. Not some conversation he was being dragged in to half way through. Suki was just psychic. He smiled at her and gave a little nod to signify he was 'getting over it' as he was instructed.

"I can't believe he's doing this to her." Katara interjected, Sokka rolled his eyes. Ever since the two jailbirds busted out, every single time Sokka had seen Katara she was complaining about Zuko. "They're already rumors all over school about them. He's so inconsiderate." His sister was obviously upset about something more than a couple of her friends ditching.

"I don't think Zuko would do anything to hurt Toph, if he bolted with her then she needed to get the hell out of here." Sokka said to Katara. "I mean, has anyone at this table even talked to her since Friday?" The two girls were silent. "I was taking care of Aang, Suki isn't all that close with Toph, and you Katara were probably the last person she wanted to hear from. Zuko's the one that needs to take care of Toph right now. And if bailing on a very inconsequential Monday was what she needed then fine by me." His Sister didn't have a comeback. Sokka had to suppress his yelp of joy at defeating Katara in an argument, even though it didn't happen often.

"Inconsequential is a big word for you babe." Sokka's puffed up ego was deflated instantly. He silently cursed his girlfriend for keeping him in check. Suki gave him winked at him and Sokka completely forgave her, damn he was whipped. Suki then turned to Katara, "I'll find them after school and see if everything's all right." Katara nodded, seemingly accepting Suki's answer to the situation. "The real question Katara, is what are you going to do about those three in the long run?" Katara got a pained look on her face, his sister must not have wanted to think about the bridges she needed to mend. Suki and Katara began to talk about feelings and stuff, so Sokka promptly zoned out.

* * *

Aang skated around and around the rink. He figured a quick skate would help him think better than eating lunch in a crowded cafeteria. The only sounds here were his blades gliding across the ice, and the wind rushing by his ears. Another advantage of the empty rink was the lack of talk about Toph and Zuko. He was also getting sick of the rumors about Zuko and Toph running rampant around the school. Having to listen to everyone in school prattle on about his ex and the guy that stole Katara from him was getting to be a bit much.

But it was his fault Toph was now his ex wasn't it? Whenever he thought about her, Aang got a big pit in his stomach. The guilt he felt about how things went down between them was immense. Aang knew that he never really committed to Toph. Always floating around the subject, he never went all in with it. Always holding back, always tricking himself into believing there was this better thing out there he could have. Katara, he had always imagined her suddenly realizing she was in love with him. They would become the perfect couple, and live happily ever after. Aang used Toph as a place holder, and he was ashamed of himself.

Aang had become lonely. He was watching Katara drift towards Zuko, and it infuriated him. So he drifted towards Toph, and the physical relationship that they had together. It was nice to be wanted, to be held in Toph's arms. But every time they kissed, Aang would think of how it was hurting his chances with Katara in the future. There were even times when he was around Katara, and he would forget that he was Toph's boyfriend. The more he reflected on his actions, the angrier he got at himself. Aang had been a gutless coward, Zuko was right. The fact that the older boy had been correct made him even more incensed. Aang may have come to terms with his fault in the way he handled everything with Toph. But he was still furious with Zuko for stealing Katara. Well, she wasn't Aang's to be stolen from, but his feelings for her made it seem that way.

It was all very confusing for the young boy. The confusions of being a teenager had always belonged to those around him. Aang never had to deal with his feelings for Katara before now. They were just always there. He certainly never had to deal with hurting a significant other. All the crap he saw his older friends go through, Aang was sure he would avoid it. Yet here he was, whipping around an abandoned hockey rink at breakneck speeds, trying to figure out the terrible situation he had fallen in to.

* * *

Zuko and Toph sat for hours and just talked. The day went on as they sipped tea, and ate a small lunch his uncle had prepared. No subject was off limits, Toph went in to every detail about how she was feeling. He listened patiently, giving as much advice as he could. When she finished pouring her heart out they were silent for a time. Then Zuko decided she deserved an equal amount of transparency from him.

"My Sister is mildly insane." Toph looked at him quizzically. "And my Father isn't a very compassionate or forgiving man." He definitely had her attention now. If there was something that Toph couldn't resist, it was the scoop on something. And since Zuko hadn't really told anyone in South Point about his life before moving there, she would be all ears for this. "We all kind of fell apart when my mother died." She looked like she wanted to say something but he waived her off. He'd heard more than enough condolences in the years since it happened. "Azula is my father's favorite. A real genius she is, and one hell of an athlete. But she is also a total psycho. If she didn't have Mai and Ty Lee around to balance her, then I would be really scared." He took a sip of his jasmine tea. "They're her two best, well only friends. People have always gravitated to Azula. She scares them, but they also admire her. So she is surrounded by submissive followers. Ty Lee and Mai are the only ones that have real relationships with her."

"I wouldn't mind some minions." Zuko cracked a smile at Toph's joke.

"My Father, well you know his public persona. CEO of a massive conglomerate, prominent member of New Yorks upper class, all that crap. What you don't know is that's about all I know about him too. We always kept our distance. The only person he ever acknowledged in our house was Azula." Zuko paused as a couple walked by their booth. "It was best that way. We couldn't seem to go a few sentences without exploding on each other. I the disappointing Son, and he the neglectful Father. And even though I hated him, all I wanted to do was gain his approval. I did well in school, but not as well as Azula. I did well in sports, but not as well as Azula. The more I failed in his eyes, the more I hated him. My obsession with gaining his approval, some sense of self-worth made me quite unpleasant."

"So you became a huge jerk?" Man this kid, the subtlety of a sledge hammer Zuko thought.

"Yeah, Azula, Ty Lee, and Mai were the only ones that I hung around. I think my Sister hung around to drive me insane. She always knew how to make me mad, she excelled at psychological torture. Having her angry-at-the-world Brother around also kept her free from dealing with the many guys with crushes on her as well. Azula uses people like tools, I was no different. On the other hand, Ty Lee and I were close." Toph made suggestive eyebrow wiggle. Zuko smiled, he knew what Toph was thinking, but there was no way that would ever have worked. "It wasn't like that," He answered her unsaid question. "Her unabashed cheerfulness was annoying, but she was a good friend. Ty Lee was honest to a fault, and untarnished by the world." A million different memories of he and Ty Lee getting into all sorts of ridiculous situations ran through his head. He chuckled to himself.

"I like when you get that look on your face." Toph brought him back to the present day. She brushed his forehead with her palm. It was such a maternal and delicate gesture, Zuko wouldn't have known it was her hand if he wasn't witnessing her touch him. "All those angry creases go away and you look like a normal guy." He leaned into her hand, a normal guy? That sounded nice. Then, as suddenly as her hand came, it went. "Now continue, your story amuses me." There Toph he knew.

"Mai was the one you can wiggle your eyebrows about." Toph laughed. "We ended up dating at the beginning of High School. She was the opposite side of the coin, if Ty Lee was heads, Mai was tails. She was incredibly intelligent, sharp as a tack. Her humor was dry. She had a quick tongue. But as aloof and cold as she pretended to be, she was just as tender and warm." Some rather passionate memories came to the forefront of his mind, but he figured it was best to keep those to himself. He figured Toph guessed at what he was thinking of, but she didn't let it show, he continued. "It's hard to have a relationship with somebody you've been friends with for so long. There isn't a lot of mystery to them. You know most everything about their lives, because you were there for it. The only thing that seems to be added is the physical. But a relationship needs to be more than that, you need to have that spark for the other person." Toph's head landed heavy on his shoulder. He guessed she was trying to apply the lesson in his words to her and Aang.

"I think I just wanted to be wanted." She was tearing up while speaking, but he didn't interrupt her. Toph needed to get this thought out, she needed to put together how she really felt into words. "I don't think Aang and I really had that spark. We just added making out to the list of things we already did together." Zuko had figured as much. But they were only 14, how could they really know what to do with themselves in a romantic relationship. Toph had the rest of her life to learn and grow, find out who she was and what she wanted from a partner.

"You'll figure it out kiddo." Zuko grabbed her hand and squeezed it in his own. He wondered if he could have ever had this type of relationship with Azula. Where they could talk like siblings, two people that cared for each other whole heartedly. Not like rival politicians, constantly looking over your shoulder, waiting for the knife in the back. It was most likely they could never have that kind of normal sibling relationship, but it was a pleasant fantasy anyway.

* * *

Hope you liked it, R & R please!


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